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MIDNIGHT  TALKS 

Ht  tbe  Club 


REPORTED 


BY  AMOS    K>TISKE 


The  people's  prayer,  the  glad  diviner's  theme, 
The  young  men's  vision  and  the  old  men's  dream. 

DRYDEN. 


NEW  YORK 

FORDS,  HOWARD,  &  HULBERT 
1890 


COPYRIGHT  IN   1890 

BY  AMOS  K.  FISKE 


PREFATORY  NOTE. 


MOST  of  the  papers  in  this  volume  originally 
appeared  as  a  series  in  the  Sunday  issues  of 
the  New  York  Times,  where  they  excited  suffi- 
cient interest  to  elicit  many  enquiries  as  to 
their  possible  appearance  in  book  form.  As 
these  enquiries  continued  for  months  after  the 
"  Talks  "  had  ceased  to  appear,  it  seemed  as 
though  the  papers  must  have  touched  matters 
of  living  and  enduring  interest,  upon  which 
many  people  are  thinking  and  craving  some- 
thing fresh  in  the  thoughts  of  others.  Hence 
the  author  feels  justified  in  rescuing  them 
from  the  quick  oblivion  of  the  newspaper,  and 
putting  them  into  a  form  which  may  give 
them  a  place  in  those  circles — whether  in  the 
club  or  the  home  or  the  study — where  talk 
ranges  upon  themes  of  more  than  trivial  or 
ephemeral  significance.  The  papers  have 
been  gone  over  carefully  for  this  volume  and 
expanded  in  some  points, — from  the  carefully 
preserved  notes  of  the  "  Listener  " — and  con- 


IV  PREFA  TOR  Y  NO  TE. 

eluded  with  a  final  contribution    from    the 
"Judge,"  sojourning  in  lands  remote. 

In  addition  to  the  offence  of  making  public 
the  conversation  of  his  friends  in  the  privacy 
of  their  club,  the  reporter  of  the  "  Midnight 
Talks  "  wishes  to  confess  to  this  further  pec- 
cadillo. In  the  interval  between  the  publica- 
tion of  the  "talks"  in  a  serial  way  and  the 
collection  of  them  in  this  volume,  he  took  the 
liberty  of  appropriating  as  his  own  many  of 
the  ideas  and  sentiments  of  the  "Judge"  and 
putting  them  forth  as  such  in  a  magazine  article 
which  appeared  in  The  Forum,  even  going 
so  far  as  to  "  convey  "  bodily  into  that  article 
some  of  the  extracts  from  the  "Judge's" 
Amalfi  letter.  As  Jhe  has  made  his  peace 
with  those  chiefly  concerned,  his  readers  will 
doubtless  care  little  for  this ;  but  he  wishes  to 
forestall  detection  by  the  keen  critics,  if  any 
should  go  so  far  as  to  look  into  his  conduct  in 
this  matter. 

AMOS  K.  FISKE. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE 
I. 

THE  "  OWL  PARTY  "   AT  THE  ASPHODEL,          .  .        I 

II. 
THE  "  OWLS  "  DISCOURSE  ON   TEMPERANCE,         .          l8 

III. 
THE   JUDGE    FINDS    THE  SHEPHERDS  NEGLECTING 

THE  SHEEP, 35 

IV. 

THE  "  OWLS  "  TALK  ABOUT   SUNDAY   OBSERVANCE,      48 

V. 

THE  JUDGE  DISCOURSES  AT   LARGE  ON   RELIGION,     65 

VI. 

THE  JUDGE  GETS  DIVERTED  TO  AN  EXPOSITION  OF 

POLITICAL   IMMORALITY,  .          .  .          .      8 1 

VII. 

SOME    FREE     DISCUSSION    OF     SUPERSTITION    AND 

WORSHIP, 96 

VIII. 
THE    JUDGE    OBJECTS    TO    MAKING    A    FETICH    OF 

THE   SCRIPTURES,         .  .  .  .  .113 

V 


vi  CONTENTS. 

IX. 

SWITCHED     OFF    TO    THE     QUESTION     OF     IRISH- 
AMERICANS,  130 

X. 

THE    JUDGE   GETS    BACK   TO    MOSES   AND   THE 
PROPHETS,         .......  149 

XI. 

MORE  DISCOURSE  ABOUT  ANCIENT  SCRIPTURE,          169 

XII. 

A    DISCUSSION   OF     THE    VALUE    OF    HUMAN    EVI- 
DENCE,          185 

XIII. 
A  DISCOURSE  ON   THE  POWER  OF  PERSONALITY,       2OI 

XIV. 
TOM  GETS   LIGHT  ON  THE  BEARING  OF   PREVIOUS 

REMARKS, 215 

XV. 

THE    COLONEL    MAINTAINS    THE    USEFULNESS    OF 

DELUSION, 232 

XVI. 

TOM   BENEDICT  AS  A  DEFENDER  OF  THE    FAITH,     248 

XVII. 
THE  JUDGE  PLEADS  FOR  UNIVERSAL  TOLERATION 

AND  ENLIGHTENMENT, 262 

XVIII. 

SOME     FINAL    WORDS     OF     COMFORT     FROM     THE 
JUDGE, 277 


MIDNIGHT  TALKS 

AT  THE  CLUB. 


I. 

THE  "  OWL  PARTY  "  AT  THE  ASPHODEL. 

WHEN  I  was  induced  by  my  old  col- 
lege friend,  Tom  Benedict,  to  join  the 
Asphodel  Club  it  was  not  with  the  expec- 
tation of  taking  part  in  midnight  discus- 
sions of  any  kind :  not  that  I  am  at  all 
averse  to  the  "  wee  sma'  hours,"  for  the 
most  irksome  of  all  things  human  is  the 
conventional  necessity  of  going  to  bed 
every  night ;  but  I  presumed  that  if  there 
were  such  diversions  within  thosq  myste- 
rious precincts  they  were  of  a  hilarious 
kind,  and  my  tastes  in  matters  of  conver- 
sation are  quiet. 

I  have  a  notion  there  is  "  no  use  talk- 


2        MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

ing"  where  more  than  two  or  three  are 
gathered  together,  unless  it  is  a  family 
party  or  a  group  of  very  intimate  friends. 

But  I  had  not  long  enjoyed  the  luxuri- 
ous ease  of  the  Asphodel  before  I  discov- 
ered that  almost  every  Saturday  night 
there  was  in  a  quiet  inner  room  a  little 
knot  of  persons  holding  high  converse  at 
about  the  time  Sunday  is  supposed  to 
be  "  ushered  in "  everywhere  but  in 
clubs.  This  knot  of  persons  appeared  to 
be  known  as  the  "  Owl  Party  "  by  those 
casual  members  who  observed  the  regu- 
larity of  their  convocation  on  Saturday 
nights  and  the  lateness  with  which  they 
indulged  in  their  periodical  talks,  perhaps 
also  with  a  delicate  reference  to  the 
profound  wisdom  occasionally  overheard 
by  the  light  minded. 

I  was  introduced  into  this  party  the 
more  promptly  because,  to  my  surprise, 
I  found  that  Tom  Benedict  was  himself 
a  member  of  it.  I  was  surprised  at  this 
simply  on  account  of  Tom's  character 
and  habits,  as  they  were  familiar  to  me. 
I  took  him  to  be  a  man  who  reposed  in 
the  bosom  of  his  family  long  before  mid- 


THE  "OWL  PARTY."  3 

night  any  night  in  the  week,  and  was  a 
little  astonished  even  that  he  should  be- 
long at  all  to  a  club  that  had  rather  a 
reputation  for  conviviality  than  other- 
wise. For  Tom  is  not  only  a  family 
man,  but  a  rather  staid  person,  as  prop- 
erly domesticated  as  any  one  you  could 
meet  in  a  summer's  day.  Very  strictly 
brought  up  was  Tom,  and  he  was  always 
submissive  to  discipline,  and  became 
rather  a  stickler  for  the  proprieties,  even 
for  the  conventionalities.  He  married 
the  daughter  of  a  clergyman,  very  charrn^ 
ing  in  her  way,  a  paragon  of  virtue  and 
propriety,  but  rather  narrow  in  her  views 
of  this  life  and  broad  in  her  conceptions 
of  the  superior  importance  of  some  other 
life.  And  like  a  dutiful  husband  he 
joined  the  church,  became  a  Vestryman 
or  some  such  thing,  and  took  his  part 
in  improving  the  wretched  human  race 
through  Sunday-schools  and  missions. 

I  like  Tom  right  well  when  we  are 
together  by  ourselves  or  with  congenial 
friends,  but  on  the  rare  occasions  on 
which  I  have  visited  him  at  his  home  I 
have  not  found  myself  quite  at  ease. 


4        AIID.VfGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

There  is  too  much  propriety  and  virtuous 
sensibility  about,  for  my  careless  ways, 
and  I  am  in  constant  danger  of  hurting 
somebody  or  something,  and  Tom  seems 
to  be  in  constant  fear  that  I  will ;  while 
his  wife  has  a  kind  of  open-eyed,  half- 
startled  wonder  at  my  free-and-easy  re- 
marks about  people  and  things.  I  can't 
even  smoke  a  cigar  in  their  house.  It  is 
one  of  those  peculiarly  refined  nests  of 
domestic  purity,  in  which  tobacco  smoke 
is  regarded  as  a  sort  of  profanation  and 
in  which  it  clings  to  curtains  and  hang- 
ings with  wicked  tenacity.  I  believe  the 
delicate  nostrils  of  Tom's  wife  would  be 
offended  with  the  fumes  of  a  single  cigar 
for  a  week  afterward,  even  though  it  were 
smoked  in  the  attic  or  the  basement. 

Imagine  my  surprise,  then,  that  Tom 
should  not  only  be  a  member  of  the 
Asphodel  Club,  but  should  even  belong 
to  an  "Owl  Party"  that  sat  discoursing 
at  a  little  round  table  garnished  with 
glasses  into  the  small  hours  of  Sunday 
morning.  His  individual  glass  contained 
generally  nothing  worse  than  ginger  ale 
or  Apollinaris  water,  though  he  is  not 


THE  "  OWL  PARTY."  5 

averse  to  a  glass  of  good  wine  on  occa- 
sion, and  I  have  more  than  once  in- 
veigled him  into  drinking  beer  at  a  Ger- 
man music  garden.  He  took  no  part  at 
all  in  the  smoking,  though  I  believe  he 
half  wished  that  he  could.  But  how 
could  he  reconcile  his  wife  to  such  late 
hours,  and  what  must  she  say  of  the  odor 
of  tobacco  which  he  can  hardly  help  car- 
rying home  in  his  clothes  ? 

The  mystery  was  solved  by  Tom's 
relations  with  another  member  of 
the  party,  whom  everybody  calls  "  the 
Judge."  Why  everybody  calls  him  "  the 
Judge "  can  only  be  explained  by  his 
appearance  and  character,  for  I  do  not 
believe  he  ever  occupied  a  judicial  posi- 
tion in  his  life,  though  by  nature  ex- 
actly fitted  for  it.  Nature  is  sometimes 
thwarted  in  her  intentions  by  circum- 
stances and  experience  in  life  or  some 
peculiar  perversity  implanted  in  her  fa- 
vorite children.  I  have  lately  learned  a 
good  deal  about  the  Judge's  private 
history,  having  made  my  way  rather 
deeply  into  his  good  graces  by  my  quite 
unusual  ability  as  a  listener.  There  is 


6        MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

nothing  a  good  talker  appreciates  like  a 
good  listener. 

The  Judge's  father  was  one  of  the 
comparatively  early  New  England  man- 
ufacturers, one  of  those  patriarchal  old 
fellows  who  antedated  stock  corpora- 
tions and  owned  the  whole  neighborhood 
about  their  mills,  and  were  looked  up 
to  as  beneficent  autocrats.  With  good 
opportunities  for  "  schooling,"  the  Judge 
was  "  brought  up  to  the  business  "  by  his 
father,  and  though  he  learned  all  about 
wool  and  dye-stuffs  and  the  art  of  com- 
bining them  in  fair  grades  of  material  for 
wearing  apparel,  he  was  not  satisfied  to 
devote  his  life  to  "  the  business."  He 
was  an  omnivorous  reader  of  books,  and 
had  made  occasional  trips  to  Providence 
and  Boston,  and  even  New  York,  on 
business  errands,  and  got  an  ambition  for 
a  wider  world  of  knowledge  and  activ- 
ity than  a  factory-village  afforded,  even 
though  he  were  some  time  to  own  the 
village. 

At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he  could  en- 
dure it  no  longer.  He  wanted  a  college 
education,  but  it  seemed  rather  late  to 


THE  "  OWL  PARTY."  7 

begin  :  so  he  took  a  course  in  a  scientific 
school,  mingling  much  language  and  lit- 
erature with  his  science ;  then  he  spent  a 
year  at  a  medical  school,  but  concluded 
that  it  did  not  open  the  way  he  was  seek- 
ing in  life  and  betook  himself  to  a  law- 
school.  He.  completed  this  course  and 
began  to  practice,  but  was  smitten  with 
a  desire  to  travel ;  and  having  ample 
means,  passed  three  years  in  foreign  parts, 
studying  men  and  things,  all  the  while 
feeding  his  appetite  for  books.  So  it  was 
that,  although  favored  with  wealth  and 
early  opportunities,  he  had  been  so 
swerved  from  his  proper  course  by  that 
"  mill  business "  in  his  youth,  that  he 
found  himself  at  thirty  years  of  age  with- 
out settled  occupation,  but  with  much 
experience  and  observation  and  the  broad 
views  which  they  give  to  a  vigorous  intel- 
lect and  an  honest  mind. 

That  must  have  been  quite  thirty  years 
ago,  and  now  the  Judge  is  a  widower, 
having  one  married  daughter,  with  whom 
he  lives,  and  two  sons — one  a  rising 
young  college  professor,  and  the  other  a 
man  of  practical  affairs  out  West,  making 


8        MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

his  fortune  in  railroads.  The  Judge  is 
neither  a  lawyer  by  profession,  nor  a  sci- 
entific or  literary  person,  nor  yet  what 
is  generally  meant  by  a  "  business  man." 
He  seems  to  read  everything  worth  read- 
ing, and  talks  wonderfully  about  books, 
but  I  doubt  if  he  ever  wrote  a  line  for 
publication  or  ever  cared  to.  He  is  fa- 
miliar with  all  manner  of  scientific  facts, 
theories,  and  conclusions,  and  is  never  at 
a  loss  in  dealing  with  them  in  conversa- 
tion, but  he  never  lectured  or  taught  or 
wrote  about  science  in  his  life.  As  to 
business,  he  has  long  been  occupied  with 
investments  of  his  own,  the  care  of  es- 
tates and  properties  for  other  people, 
and  the  oversight  of  financial  interests 
in  this  country  for  certain  foreign  cli- 
ents who  have  found  him  out  from  time 
to  time,  either  here  or  on  his  frequent 
trips  abroad.  In  short,  the  Judge  is  a 
busy,  multifarious  sort  of  person,  with  a 
goodly  income,  and  shows  no  sign  of 
wearing  out.  His  great  delight  seems  to 
be  conversing  with  a  few  congenial  spir- 
its. His  eyes  are  dark  and  glowing,  his 
thick,  close-cut  hair  quite  gray,  his  face 


THE  "OWL  PARTY."  g 

fresh,  benignant  and  bare  of  beard,  save 
for  a  silver  clasp  that  comes  down  from 
his  hair  in  front  of  each  ear.  His  man- 
ner is  calm  and  serene  but  indicative  al- 
ways of  deep  sincerity. 

It  so  happened  that  Tom  Benedict's 
father  was  a  great  friend  of  the  Judge, 
and  when  he  died  during  Tom's  col- 
lege days  and  before  the  latter  had 
reached  his  majority,  Tom  found  himself 
and  his  property  under  the  charge  of 
the  Judge,  as  executor  of  his  father's 
will  and  guardian  of  himself.  He  was 
treated  in  such  a  very  fatherly  way  that 
he  conceived  a  most  affectionate  rever- 
ence for  his  guardian.  The  Judge  had 
even  been  his  confidant  in  his  love  affair 
with  the  daughter  of  another  old  friend 
of  his  father,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Willis,  and  his 
paternal  offices  in  vouching  for  the  good 
character  and  associations  of  the  young 
man  had  had  much  to  do  with  the 
happy  issue  of  the  suit.  Tom  had  also 
consulted  his  guardian  in  regard  to  his 
profession,  and  had  been  materially  as- 
sisted by  him  in  getting  a  start  in  the 
practice  of  the  law. 


10     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

And  moreover  Tom's  wife,  natur- 
ally enough,  had  full  confidence  in  the 
Judge,  for  he  had  been  intimate  with 
her  father,  also,  and  then  he  has  that  infi- 
nite tact  which  enables  a  man  to  adapt 
himself  to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  peo- 
ple, to  understand  their  points  of  view, 
and  sympathize  with  their  sensibilities, 
even  though  they  are  somewhat  narrow, 
provided  always  that  they  are  sincere 
and  earnest  people.  So  when  the  Judge 
proposed  that  Tom  be  brought  out  a  lit- 
tle more  among  the  people  of  this  world 
by  joining  the  Asphodel  Club,  the  wife 
made  no  objection.  The  late  Saturday 
nights  must  have  cost  her  a  pang  or 
two,  and  nothing  but  the  assurance  that 
the  Judge  was  always  there,  and  her  en- 
tire confidence  in  the  safety  of  his  moral 
and  social  guardianship,  could,  I  am  sure, 
have  reconciled  her  to  the  late  hours  on 
the  eve  of  the  Sabbath.  This  was  Tom's 
only  opportunity  of  close  association  at 
frequent  intervals  with  his  old  friend,  and 
that  association  was  very  dear  to  him  ;  so 
the  arrangement  was  acquiesced  in,  ap- 
parently without  any  domestic  strain. 


THE  "  OWL  PARTY."  1 1 

Those  Saturday  nights  were  the  Judge's 
only  diversion  outside  of  his  daughter's 
home,  to  which  he  was  much  attached, 
and  his  extreme  fondness  for  talking  to 
a  group  of  appreciative  listeners  made  it 
a  sort  of  self-indulgence  which  he  would 
have  found  it  about  as  hard  to  give  up  as 
the  victim  of  a  vicious  habit  finds  it  diffi- 
cult to  avoid  his  periodical  "  spree."  The 
Judge  had  been  originally  brought  into 
the  club  by  his  old  boyhood  and  school- 
day  friend,  Colonel  Bloodgood,  the  other 
member  of  the  "  Owl  Party,"  and  by  him 
he  had  been  first  inveigled  into  the  reg- 
ular Saturday  night  visits  and  the  conse- 
quent discussions.  It  was  a  queer  case  of 
friendship,  that  of  the  Judge  and  the 
Colonel,  and  if  it  had  not  begun  in  boy- 
hood I  am  sure  it  could  not  have  begun 
at  all.  It  could  have  been  based  only  on 
a  very  intimate  interior  mutual  knowl- 
edge. The  grounds  of  sympathy  must 
have  been  deep,  for  in  all  external  char- 
acteristics in  their  mature  years  the  two 
friends  would  have  seemed  anything  but 
congenial  spirits. 

The    Colonel    has    been   a    real    colo- 


12     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

nel  in  the  regular  army  and  has  seen 
much  and  varied  service ;  he  has  also 
had  vast  experience  of  the  world  in  his 
own  and  other  countries.  He  rather 
prides  himself  on  being  a  "man  of  the 
world,"  and  taking  very  "  little  stock"  in 
things  that  do  not  pertain  to  this  mun- 
dane life.  He  has  "  views  "  and  does  not 
hesitate  to  express  them  with  great  vigor 
and  candor. 

The  Colonel  is  tall  and  square-shoul- 
dered, and  carries  the  burden  of  his  sixty 
years  and  his  varied  experience  without 
bending.  The  fierce  floridity  of  his  face 
is  rather  intensified  by  the  whiteness  of 
his  big  mustache,  the  baldness  of  his  cra- 
nial dome,  and  the  curiously  persistent 
blackness  of  his  heavy  eyebrows.  From 
these  contrasted  surroundings  the  deep 
blue  of  his  eyes  shines  out  like  a  piece  of 
art-work,  or  a  vivid  Chinese  painting  on 
porcelain.  His  talk  has  a  fierce  emphasis, 
in  keeping  with  his  looks,  and  is  a  little  too 
much  garnished  with  those  profane  par- 
ticles which  unrestrained  natures  are  apt 
to  find  so  convenient  for  purposes  of  in- 
tense expression.  The  Colonel  rather 


THE  "OWL  PARTY."  13 

cheapens  his  expletives  as  a  means  of 
emphasizing  statements  and  opinions  by 
too  lavish  use  of  them,  an  illustration  of 
how  habit  overcomes  discretion  in  the 
use  of  language.  The  Colonel  is  a  man 
of  leisure,  nowadays,  and  fond  of  good 
living,  and  especially  of  life  at  clubs, 
which  is  always  good  living  for  those 
who  can  afford  to  make  it  so.  Unlike 
the  Judge,  he  is  not  reserved  in  his 
acquaintances,  but  knows  everybody  and 
talks  freely  with  all  whom  he  knows, 
lie  goes  to  dinners  and  theatres,  and 
the  only  thing  he  seems  to  be  averse  to 
is  fashionable  society.  He  submits  to  a 
good  deal  of  it  and  always  has  the  ap- 
pearance of  enjoying  himself  on  social 
occasions,  yet  he  protests  that  it  bores 
him  and  makes  him  feel  like  rushing  off 
to  play  dominoes  in  a  beer  saloon. 

But  of  all  men  else  the  Colonel  ad- 
mires the  Judge,  and  never  misses  an 
opportunity  of  being  with  him  and  get- 
ting him  to  talking  in  the  presence  of 
others.  It  is  the  presence  of  others  that 
gives  zest  to  the  Colonel's  enjoyment 
of  the  Judge's  conversation,  for  he  pro- 


14      MIDNIGHT  TALK'S  AT  THE  CLUB. 

fesses  to  know  him  through  and  through 
and  takes  special  pride  in  astonishing 
others  with  him,  not  being  himself  in  the 
least  astonished  with  his  calm  wisdom 
and  penetrating  judgment.  The  Colonel 
is  convivial  in  his  tastes,  and  while  Tom 
Benedict  sips  his  Apollinaris  and  the 
Judge  spends  the  whole  session  in  dispos- 
ing of  a  glass  of  light  Rhine  wine,  he 
orders  frequent  brandy-and-sodas,  and 
good-naturedly  chaffs  the  others  for  drink- 
ing their  "  wishy-washy  stuff."  Moreover, 
he  smokes  incessantly,  while  the  most  the 
Judge  does  in  that  line  is  to  relight  his 
cigar  in  the  lulls  of  conversation  and  let 
it  go  out  again.  Tom  smokes  not  at  all; 
while  I,  moderate  at  other  times,  keep 
pretty  well  up  with  the  Colonel  on  these 
special  occasions,  being  no  talker,  but 
only  a  meditative  listener. 

When  I  first  joined  in  with  the  "  Owl 
Party  "  on  Tom's  introduction,  I  expected 
to  be  bored  with  it  for  a  while  and  then 
to  drop  out,  for  I  had  a  feeling  that  while 
social  chat  in  a  club  was  all  very  well, 
anything  like  the  sober  discussions  which 
Tom  said  they  always  had,  was  sure  to 


THE  "  OWL  PARTY."  I  5 

be  uninteresting  and  unprofitable.  Peo- 
ple are  everlastingly  exchanging  opinions 
upon  things  they  know  nothing  about, 
and  have  really  thought  nothing  about, 
and  they  weary  me  with  their  common- 
places and  platitudes,  or  their  fragmen- 
tary and  superficial  "  views  "  of  all  sorts 
of  things.  But  I  soon  found  myself  a 
fascinated  listener,  especially  to  the 
Judge's  mild  and  mellifluous  discourses. 
He  seemed  to  see  all  sides  of  a  thing,  to 
look  around  it  and  through  it  and  to 
be  swayed  by  no  prejudices  about  it. 
"  What  a  book  he  could  make  !  "  said 
Tom  one  night,  or  rather  one  morning 
about  two  o'clock,  as  we  sauntered  out 
from  the  club-house,  each  intent  on  the 
nearest  conveyance  homeward. 

"Well,  I  don't  know  about  that,"  I  re- 
plied, "  I  doubt  if  he  could  make  any- 
thing out  of  writing  a  book.  He  would 
be  cramped,  with  a  pen  in  his  fingers, 
and  his  inspiration  might  be  wanting  if 
he  had  nobody  to  talk  with.  But  if  a 
fellow  were  to  hitch  on  to  him  in  the  ca- 
pacity of  a  Boswell  and  write  down  what 
he  says,  something  might  be  made  of  him." 


1 6     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

Tom  said  nothing  in  reply,  but  I  had 
put  the  idea  into  my  own  head  that  I 
might  quietly  store  up  all  I  could  carry 
of  the  "  Owl  Party  "  talk  and  make  as 
full  notes  as  I  could  when  I  got  home, 
and  perhaps  "work  them  up"  afterward. 
Anyhow,  I  determined  to  see  what  I 
could  do,  and  if  it  did  not  "  pan  out  "  in 
a  literary  way  no  harm  would  be  done. 
I  should  have  the  benefit,  anyway,  and 
the  rest  of  the  world  could  worry  along 
without  knowing  what  it  had  lost. 

I  find  it  is  no  easy  matter  to  report 
a  conversation  on  the  plan  of  remember- 
ing until  you  get  home  and  then  jotting 
down.  The  best  part  of  it  has  evap- 
orated and  gone.  The  manner,  the  tones 
and  inflections  are  unreportable,  and  the 
treacherous  memory  loses  much  of  the 
best  that  is  intrusted  to  it ;  so  that  when 
the  substance  of  the  talk  is  put  into  new 
sentences  it  doesn't  seem  the  same,  some- 
how. But,  still,  much  of  the  real  sub- 
stance may  be  saved,  the  ideas  may  be 
pinned  down  and  preserved,  though  they 
compare  with  the  original  expression 
much  as  fluffy  and  dusty  butterflies 


THE  "  OWL  PARTY."  \J 

transfixed  in  a  case  compare  with  gay 
flights  of  them  on  the  wing  in  the  sun- 
light. 

It  is  then,  on  the  principle  of  saving 
some  of  the  substance,  though  failing  to 
reproduce  the  manner  of  expression,  that 
this  experiment  is  made  of  reporting  the 
midnight  talks  of  the  "  Owl  Party  "  at 
the  Asphodel  Club. 


II. 

THE    "  OWLS  "    DISCOURSE    ON    TEMPER- 
ANCE. 

I  CAME  in  a  little  late  one  night  and 
found  the  Colonel  had  been  inveighing 
against  "  fanatical "  temperance  people 
and  denouncing  with  especial  vehemence 
those  impracticable  "  cranks  "  who  would 
prohibit  all  making  and  selling  of  drinks 
that  intoxicate. 

"  Their  fundamental  principle  is  wrong/' 
he  exclaimed,  just  as  I  joined  the  party. 
"  The  total  abstinence  which  they  seek  to 
enforce  upon  everybody  is  not  sound 
in  theory  or  in  practice.  A  moderate 
amount  of  stimulant  is  good  for  many 
people  and  necessary  for  some."  And  he 
took  a  pull  at  his  brandy-and-soda  with 
unusual  gusto. 

"  To  that  extent  I  am  inclined  to 
agree  with  you,"  said  the  Judge,  in  his 
undogmatic  way.  "  Yet  we  must  all  ad- 


TEMPERANCE.  19 

mit  the  evils  and  abuses  to  which  the 
drinking  habit  is  apt  to  lead  and  the  ter- 
rible consequences  which  do  in  fact  flow 
from  it,  and  I  don't  see  how  we  can  deny 
the  right  of  society  to  protect  itself 
against  these  by  every  reasonable  means. 
Total  abstinence  from  stimulants,  like  ab- 
solute prudence  in  eating  and  invariable 
wisdom  in  the  care  of  health,  would 
doubtless  prevail  with  a  perfected  human 
race  surrounded  by  millennial  conditions ; 
but  this  generation  has  inherited  imper- 
fections and  defects,  tainted  with  the 
weakness  and  vices  of  human  nature  for 
thousands  of  years.  We  cannot  expect 
to  get  rid  of  these  all  at  once.  There  are 
feeble  stomachs,  sluggish  livers,  inade- 
quate lungs,  and  abnormal  nervous  sys- 
tems, all  craving  to  be  set  right  and 
struggling  with  their  disadvantages  to 
get  their  owners  through  life  somehow; 
and  the  tempers,  sentiments,  and  opin- 
ions even,  of  the  latter  are  influenced  by 
these  defects.  Their  characters  are  to  a 
great  extent  subject  to  their  infirmities, 
which  are  the  cause  of  beliefs  and  unbe- 
liefs, of  domestic  infelicity  and  social 


20     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

irregularities,  of  wickedness  and  crime. 
Just  how  to  deal  with  them  we  do  not 
know ;  least  of  all  do  those  who  are 
most  subject  to  them.  But  I  have  no 
doubt  that  stimulants  have  their  use, — 
that  they  were  made  for  something  else 
than  to  exercise  the  quality  of  self-de- 
aial ;  and  I  suppose  a  craving  implanted 
in  human  nature,  though  it  may  become 
abnormal  and  destructive,  is  grounded  in 
a  real  need.  Did  it  ever  strike  you  how 
apt  total  abstainers  are  to  become  the 
victims  of  physical  ailments,  for  which 
they  resort  to  '  bitters '  and  patent  nos- 
trums, the  chief  virtue  of  which  is  the 
alcohol  disguised  in  their  composition? 
Yes,  I  am  convinced  that  total  abstinence 
is  not  a  sound  doctrine  in  the  present 
state  of  human  development,  and  I  be- 
lieve, on  the  whole,  the  virtue  of  self-de- 
nial— or  what  is  better,  self-control — 
would  be  more  fully  and  firmly  developed 
by  teaching  temperance  than  by  teaching 
abstinence. 

"  But  the  conditions  of  life  make  a 
great  difference,  and  people  do  not  yet 
sufficiently  appreciate  the  wide  difference 


TEMPERA  NCE.  2 1 

between  life  in  cities  and  life  in  the  coun- 
try." 

"  I  appreciate  it,"  broke  in  the  Colo- 
nel. "  Why,  in  this  very  matter  of  drink- 
ing, country  people  are  so  narrow  and  in- 
tolerant that  they  think  if  a  man  has  a 
bottle  of  wine  at  dinner  or  takes  a  drink 
even  once  a  day  he  is  a  drunkard,  or 
well  on  the  way  to  become  one.  They 
look  upon  him  as  a  kind  of  outcast.  I 
knew  a  young  fellow,  as  worthy  and 
right-meaning  a  chap  as  you  would  wish 
to  see,  who  made  a  visit  to  his  native 
place,  down  in  Maine.  Everybody  was 
quite  struck  with  admiration  for  him 
until,  coming  across  a  city  acquaintance 
on  a  fishing  excursion,  he  was  discovered 
drinking  with  him  at  a  tavern  in  a  neigh- 
boring town.  I'll  be  blanked  *  if  it  didn't 
make  so  much  talk  and  gossip,  and  turn 
feeling  so  much  against  the  fellow  that 
he  felt  as  if  he  were  looked  upon  as  a 
gone  case.  He  cut  his  visit  short,  and 
swore  he  would  never  go  to  the  be- 
nighted neighborhood  again." 

*  We  really  must  find  some  euphemism  for  the  Colo- 
nel's points  of  emphasis. 


22      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

"  Well,  now,  there  is  a  reason  for  that 
state  of  feeling  in  a  country  place," 
mildly  responded  the  Judge.  "If  you 
are  very  familiar  with  life  in  such  places, 
you  know  that  it  is  so  barren  of  variety, 
of  diversion  for  the  mind,  of  occupation 
for  the  attention  at  leisure  times,  that 
habits  are  easily  fixed.  If  a  young  man 
begins  to  drink  at  all  there,  and  to  visit 
bar-rooms,  ten  to  one  it  will  grow  to  a 
constant  practice  and  ruin  him.  The 
people  go  one  way  or  the  other  almost 
inevitably.  Hence  they  think  their  only 
safety  is  in  total  abstinence,  and  look 
with  horror  upon  any  departure  from  it. 
They  have  no  comprehension  of  the  dif- 
ferent conditions  under  which  life  passes 
in  a  city,  and  cannot  acquire  it  by  an 
occasional  bewildering  visit.  That  is 
why  a  general  system  of  laws  relating 
to  this  matter,  applying  alike  to  a  whole 
State,  seems  to  me  an  absurdity.  It  is 
like  extending  a  city  police  system,  into 
the  rural  districts,  or  attempting  to  run  a 
town-meeting  in  New  York.  For  coun- 
try legislators  to  make  excise  laws  foi 
cities  is  like  having  a  set  of  farmers  draw 


TEMPERANCE.  2$ 

up  the  regulations  for  conducting  a  dis- 
tant manufacturing  establishment ;  the 
only  way  the  business  could  be  run 
would  be  by  ignoring  the  regulations : 
and  so  we  are  continually  violating  our 
country-made  excise  laws ;  which  is  a 
bad  thing,  but  unavoidable.  Nothing 
weakens  respect  for  all  law  like  having 
laws  thrust  upon  a  people  which  they  will 
not  obey ;  but  the  fault  is  in  the  making 
of  the  laws." 

"  You  believe  in  local  option,  then,  and 
not  in  prohibition  at  all,"  suggested  Tom 
Benedict. 

44  The  phrase  *  local  option '  as  it  is 
generally  used,  implies  prohibition  where 
the  people  choose  to  have  it.  I  cannot 
say  that  I  believe  in  that,  unless  I  am 
allowed  to  define  the  prohibition.  A 
man  who  does  not  believe  in  total  absti- 
nence as  a  universal  principle,  like  truth- 
telling  and  common  honesty,  cannot 
reasonably  defend  the  policy  of  absolutely 
prohibiting  the  making  and  selling  of  in- 
toxicating liquors.  Even  if  it  were  ad- 
mitted that  all  drinking  is  bad,  it  would 
not  follow  that  the  majority  would  be 


24     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

justified  in  so  far  disregarding  personal 
liberty  as  to  prevent  it  by  law.  But  if  we 
claim  that  drinking  stimulants  in  modera- 
tion and  reason  is  not  wrong,  not  even  in- 
jurious, we  must  respect  the  right  of  people 
to  buy  drink.  Still,  I  do  not  think  the  ex- 
istence of  bar-rooms  and  drinking-saloons 
necessary  to  that  right.  A  man's  right 
to  buy  bread  and  milk  is  not  interfered 
with,  even  if  there  is  not  a  place  on  every 
block  or  on  any  block  where  he  can  drop 
in  and  indulge  in  these  luxuries  stand- 
ing at  a  counter  or  sitting  at  a  table.  It 
would  do  no  harm  if  there  were,  perhaps ; 
but  excessive  drinking  is  admitted  to  be 
bad,  so  bad  for  the  general  interests  of 
society  that  society  is  bound  to  protect 
itself  against  the  consequences.  Now, 
these  numerous  bar-rooms  and  saloons 
where  people  go  to  drink  and  for  no 
other  purpose  are  undoubtedly  nurseries 
of  intemperance  and  disorder  and  all 
sorts  of  misery  and  crime.  I  would  not 
interfere  with  the  right  to  buy  beer  or 
even  whiskey  yet  I  would  be  glad  if  it 
were  possible  to  suppress  these  drinking- 
places." 


TEMPERANCE.  2$ 

"  But  you  don't  think  it  is  possible,  of 
course?"  queried  the  Colonel. 

"Not  here,  and  now,"  the  Judge  re- 
plied. "  We  can  only  take  such  meas- 
ures as  may  be  practicable  to  limit  their 
number  and  lessen  the  evil  they  do,  and 
make  such  gains  in  restriction  from  time 
to  time  as  the  people  will  uphold.  But 
just  here  comes  in  my  '  local  option  '  idea. 
In  country  places  not  only  is  drinking 
more  apt  to  lead  to  ruinous  intemperance 
than  in  the  city  when  once  it  is  started 
upon,  but  a  drinking-saloon  is  much  less 
a  mere  place  of  business,  and  much  more 
a  centre  of  evil  and  a  nuisance.  In  town, 
boys  and  young  men  pass  saloons  by  the 
score  and  never  think  of  going  in.  They 
know  none  of  the  people  there  and  no- 
body tries  to  entice  them  to  enter.  In  the 
country,  everybody  knows  everybody  else, 
including  the  saloon-keeper  and  the  loaf- 
ers about  his  place,  and  the  association  is 
so  close  and  the  resources  for  spending 
leisure  time  so  few  that  young  fellows 
are  apt  to  be  drawn  in.  They  do  not  go 
to  take  a  drink  and  come  out,  but  to  sit 
and  exchange  coarse  talk  and  keep  on 


26     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

drinking.  Country  people  are  justified  in 
regarding  bar-rooms  and  drinking-saloons 
as  nuisances  and  in  wishing  to  suppress 
them.  In  many  cases  they  can  do  it,  and 
I  would  give  them  the  ojption  of  doing  it. 
This  is  quite  different  from  denying  a 
man  the  right  to  drink  what  he  pleases 
so  long  as  he  does  not  abuse  it,  or  de- 
priving him  of  the  chance  of  buying  what 
he  wants  for  consumption  at  his  own 
home.  His  habits  there  cannot  properly 
be  a  matter  of  legislation,  but  must  be 
the  subject  of  moral  and  religious  teach- 
ing. 

"  There  is  another  thing  we  have  to 
recognize  in  our  cities,  and  that  is  the  for- 
eign elements.  The  idea  of  suppressing 
all  drinking  because  there  is  such  a  thing 
as  drunkenness,  which  does  an  infinite 
deal  of  harm,  seems  to  have  its  origin  in 
the  English  part  of  our  brains  if  not  in 
the  Puritan  compartments  of  them  only. 
A  Frenchman  gives  his  boy  of  ten  or 
twelve  a  glass  of  light  wine  at  dinner 
without  the  slightest  notion  of  harm  or 
danger  to  his  future  habits.  We  see 
whole  families  of  quiet  and  orderly  Ger- 


TEMPERANCE.  2] 

mans  in  their  beer-saloons,  all  sipping 
beer,  even  to  children  in  arms.  They  see 
no  more  harm  in  it  than  in  sipping  but- 
termilk, and  are  utterly  unable  to  com- 
prehend the  feelings  of  those  who  regard 
their  customs  with  a  sort  of  horror.  The 
Frenchman  knows  that  drinking  wine  at 
table  is  not  of  itself  likely  to  lead  to  ex- 
cesses, and  the  German  has  no  sort  of 
notion  that  family  beer-drinking  is  the 
precursor  of  drunkenness  and  misery. 
You  might  as  well  tell  him  that  tea- 
drinking  will  lead  to  the  horrors  of  the 
madhouse. 

"  I  am  inclined  to  think  that  famil- 
iarity with  these  mild  forms  of  drink- 
ing is  a  safeguard  rather  than  a  danger. 
The  worst  cases  of  drunkenness  I  ever 
knew  in  persons  of  respectable  origin 
were  those  of  men  brought  up  under  the 
most  rigid  restrictions.  Some  natures 
are  in  a  constant  state  of  insurrection 
under  such  restrictions,  and  when  once 
they  break  away  from  them  they  go  be- 
yond all  reasonable  limits.  Fellows  who 
become  wild  or  fast  at  twenty  or  twenty- 
one  and  get  bad  habits  fixed  upon  them 


28      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

are  pretty  apt  to  be  those  who  were 
kept  under  the  closest  restraint  before. 
Now,  with  these  foreign  elements  in  our 
population,  with  their  freer  notions  and 
their  inherited  customs,  what  is  the  use 
of  adopting  the  English  Puritan  spirit  in 
trying  to  suppress  intemperance?" 

"The  English  Puritans  were  not  par- 
ticularly temperate  in  the  matter  of  drink- 
ing," interjected  the  Colonel. 

"  Perhaps  not,  but  they  were  some- 
what addicted  to  enforcing  upon  others 
such  restrictions  as  they  deemed  to  be 
good  for  the  purification  of  mankind, 
without  regard  to  what  those  others 
might  deem  to  be  good  for  themselves. 
The  idea  that  the  majority  or  the  ruling 
party  may  prescribe  the  habits  and  prac- 
tices of  the  community  derives  much 
sanction  from  those  godly  Puritans.  I 
believe  that  the  infusion  of  the  more  gen- 
ial spirit  of  the  French  and  Germans  is  a 
mighty  good  thing  for  this  country  and 
for  the  cause  of  individual  liberty. 

"But  after  all,  it  is  little  that  legisla- 
tion can  do  for  the  cause  of  temperance. 
It  can  suppress  nuisances,  and  by  putting 


TEMPERANCE.  2$ 

dram-selling  under  close  regulation  make 
the  business  as  actually  conducted  more 
respectable  and  less  mischievous.  It 
may  diminish  somewhat  the  facility  of 
the  Avernian  descent.  Where  regulation 
in  this  as  in  other  matters  of  human  con- 
duct needs  most  to  be  applied  is  to  the 
individual,  and  he  has  to  be  induced  to 
apply  it  for  himself  from  some  motive  or 
other.  The  good  old  scheme  of  temper- 
ance reform  by  moral  suasion  seems  to 
have  gone  out  of  vogue  since  political 
prohibition  came  in ;  but  appeals  to  rea- 
son and  conscience  and  to  the  moral 
sense  and  domestic  sentiments  are  much 
more  effective  in  this  matter  than  the 
resort  to  legislation.  If  we  could  really 
make  the  people  temperate  in  their  hab- 
its, questions  of  prohibition  and  restric- 
tion would  easily  settle  themselves.  It 
is  better  to  convince  than  to  coerce,  to 
reform  the  people  than  to  reform  the 
laws.  There  is  a  good  deal  in  the  claims 
of  these  personal-liberty  fellows.  Per- 
sonal liberty  is  at  the  bottom  of  our  in- 
stitutions, and  when  you  attack  it  you 
excite  a  revolt.  Our  task  should  be,  not 


30     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

to  suppress  liberty,  but  to  make  it  safe. 
As  we  need  to  educate  our  electors  rather 
than  take  the  suffrage  away  from  them, 
so  we  need  to  lead  the  people  to  be  tem- 
perate rather  than  prevent  them  from 
getting  anything  to  drink. 

"  But  what  has  become  of  all  the  tem- 
perance societies,  with  their  impassioned 
exhortations,  their  pledges,  their  bands  of 
hope,  their  cold-water  brigades,  and  the 
rest  of  it?  They  have  been  mostly  killed 
or  paralyzed  by  the  Prohibition  move- 
ment, which  has  made  temperance  a 
political  instead  of  a  moral  question. 
Nobody  is  reformed  by  politics ;  and 
legislation  can  only  aid  and  support,  it 
cannot  produce,  moral  and  social  reform. 
There  are  Francis  Murphy,  Mabie  and 
English,  still  going  about  the  country 
preaching  the  gospel  of  abstinence  from 
rum  and  refusing  to  be  suppressed  by 
political  Prohibition  ;  but  what  are  so  few 
in  such  a  field  ?  They  accomplish  some 
good,  and  those  they  save  are  worth  the 
saving  ;  but  their  method  is  going  under, 
overwhelmed  by  the  flood  of  Prohibition- 
ism  in  politics. 


TEMPERANCE.  3 1 

"  All  decent  people  believe  in  temper- 
ance, very  many  believe  in  total  absti- 
nence, but  few  believe  in  prohibition,  or 
ever  will.  It  is  really  opposed  to  the 
principles  and  methods  of  free  institu- 
tions. Why  are  there  not  societies  and 
brotherhoods,  lecturers  and  exhorters  in 
the  field  nowadays  to  promote  temper- 
ance, and  especially  to  save  the  young 
from  drifting  into  intemperance?  I  sus- 
pect that  the  Prohibition  Party  is  mainly 
responsible  for  the  paralysis  of  real  tem- 
perance reform  by  diverting  effort  from 
the  good  that  might  be  done  to  an  end 
that  cannot  be  attained — and,  indeed,  is 
not  desirable. 

"  But  there  is  one  great  organization 
in  existence  whose  object  is  supposed  to 
be  the  doing  of  good  to  mankind  which 
seems  to  me  very  negligent  of  this  par- 
ticular field  of  effort,  and  that  is  the 
Christian  church." 

"Oh  no!"  exclaimed  Colonel  Blood- 
good,  with  a  hoarse,  cynical  laugh.  "  Oh 
no !  Judge,  there  you  are  wrong.  The 
object  of  the  church  is  not  supposed  to 
be  the  doing  of  good  to  mankind,  but 


32      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

the  making  of  people  believe  things  that 
most  of  them  won't  believe,  and  the 
bringing  together  of  those  who  profess  to 
believe  them  to  congratulate  each  other 
that  they  are  better  than  other  men  are 
and  to  sustain  each  other  in  their  delu- 
sion. Oh  no!  if  mankind  will  not  be 
saved  according  to  certain  dogmas  of 
belief  it  can  go  its  way  to  the  everlasting 
bonfire,  for  all  the  churches." 

"Ah,  well,  now,"  mildly  resumed  the 
Judge,  "  I  expected  you  to  break  out 
against  the  churches.  But  I  tell  you, 
with  all  their  short-comings,  they  are  a 
saving  element.  They  are  mostly  made 
up  of  really  good  people,  who  want  to 
do  good  to  mankind.  What  I  complain 
of  is  that  they  have  become  too  exclu- 
sive and  are  too  much  given  over  to  re- 
iterating week  after  week  a  lot  of  sen- 
timents more  or  less  wholesome  to  people 
who  like  to  be  reminded  of  what  they 
think  and  feel,  or  what  they  ought  to 
think  and  feel,  or  what  they  think  they 
ought  to  think  and  feel,  but  who  do  not 
greatly  need  the  reminder.  Yet  here  is 
the  great  mass  of  the  poor,  of  the  unbe- 


TEMPERANCE.  33 

lieving,  of  the  ignorant  and  vicious — in 
short,  the  part  of  mankind  that  needs 
regenerating  and  reforming  and  saving — 
and  it  seems  to  me  the  Church  is  doing 
mighty  little  to  help  them,  compared  to 
what  it  might  do.  It  is  engaged  in  sav- 
ing those  who  are  safe,  in  healing  those 
who  are  well,  in  finding  those  who  are 
not  lost.  The  main  trouble  is  undoubt- 
edly that  they  insist  too  much  upon 
beliefs  and  doctrines,  and  are  not  suffi- 
ciently devoted  to  doing  good  for  its 
own  sake.  If  they  would  leave  all  their 
creeds  and  doctrines  in  the  background 
and  go  into  reform-work  for  its  pres- 
ent results,  much  more  would  be  accom- 
plished. 

"  Now,  here  is  this  matter  of  temper- 
ance. To  preach  temperance  to  the 
average  congregation  is  nothing.  To 
teach  it  in  mission  schools  and  chapels 
is  little.  Why  doesn't  every  Christian 
church  make  itself  a  real  agency  for. 
temperance  reform  and  go  to  work  re- 
claiming the  lost  and  saving  those  that 
are  in  danger,  not  from  the  pains  and 
penalties  of  a  vague  hereafter,  but  from 


34     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

the  degradation  that  besets  them  here 
and  now  ?  Never  mind  what  they  will 
believe  or  won't  believe  in  theology. 
They  may  be  convinced  that  it  is  better 
for  them  and  their  families  in  this  life  to 
be  sober,  industrious,  and  self-respecting 
than  to  be  drunken  and  worthless ;  they 
may  be  induced  and  helped  to  exercise 
self-restraint  for  their  own  earthly  well- 
being,  and  that  is  the  great  need.  I 
don't  think  the  Christian  church  is  doing 
its  proper  work,  by  any  means." 

"  No,  and  it  never  will  until  it  revises 
and  amends  its  constitution  and  stands 
upon  a  broad  basis  on  the  ground  instead 
of  being  perched  on  a  tower  constructed 
in  the  dark  ages,"  growled  the  Colonel. 
"  However,  the  tower  is  crumbling;  that's 
one  comfort." 


III. 

THE   JUDGE  FINDS  THE   SHEPHERDS 
NEGLECTING  THE  SHEEP. 

"  You  were  speaking  the  last  time  we 
were  here,"  remarked  Benedict  deferen- 
tially to  the  Judge,  "of  the  neglect  of 
the  churches  to  do  the  work  of  temper- 
ance reform.  Don't  you  think  they  incul- 
cate temperance  as  well  as  other  virtues 
in  their  teachings?" 

"  O  yes,  of  course,  to  those  who 
come  regularly  under  their  teaching,  and 
who,  for  the  most  part,  do  not  need  it. 
Members  of  churches  and  people  who 
regularly  '  attend  Divine  service '  are  not 
drunkards,  or  in  much  danger  of  becom- 
ing so  ;  and  this,  not  so  much  on  account 
of  the  preaching,  but  as  a  matter  of  sur- 
roundings and  influences,  of  association 
and  the  consequent  habits.  It  is  a  con- 
genitally  bad  nature  that  would  grow  up 
vicious  in  the  midst  of  a  virtuous  family, 


36      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

good  society,  sound  influences,  and  all 
the  educational  advantages.  It  seems  to 
me  that  the  object  of  the  Gospel,  if  we 
may  judge  by  the  action  of  its  great 
Proclaimer,  was  to  redeem  the  bad,  not 
to  save  the  good  ;  and  the  real  work  of 
the  churches  should  be  to  regenerate 
those  elements  of  society  whose  condi- 
tion we  are  deploring  so  much  and  doing 
so  little  for.  The  Fifth  Avenue  congre- 
gations would  do  well  enough  if  they 
claimed  only  to  be  moral,  religious,  and 
social  clubs ; — and  I  am  afraid  that  is 
about  what  they  are.*' 

"Yes,"  answered  Tom,  resolutely,  "  but 
the  churches  are  not  all  on  Fifth  Avenue 
and  Murray  Hill.  They  are  among  the 
poor  and  degraded,  too  ;  and  are  they 
not  trying  to  reclaim  and  bring  in  all 
they  can  reach  ?  " 

"  All  they  can  reach — how  and  with 
what?"  exclaimed  the  Judge,  with  a  bit  of 
warmth  in  his  manner.  "  Where  are 
the  largest  funds  expended,  and  for  what 
purpose  ?  To  what  are  the  real  intellect 
and  resources  of  the  churches  devoted 
but  maintaining  services  in  costly  build- 


SHEPHERDLESS  SHEEP.  37 

ings  for  the  satisfaction  of  well-dressed 
and  comfortable  people?  The  poorest 
talents  and  the  scantiest  funds  go  to 
attempts  to  *  reclaim/  as  you  call  it,  here 
and  there.  Reclaim  from  what  and  to 
what  ?  Not  so  much  from  poverty  and 
ignorance  and  vice  to  decency  and  com- 
fort as  from  what  is  technically  known 
as  '  sin,'  and  to  what  is  technically 
known  as  '  faith  in  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.'  These  things  have  become  so 
far  technicalities  of  the  Church  that  they 
absolutely  stand  in  the  way  of  the  work 
of  real  salvation.  It  seems  to  me  that 
allowing  for  the  differences  in  the  prog- 
ress of  the  human  race,  the  Church  is 
getting  to  be  very  much  what  the  syn- 
agogue was  when  Jesus  appeared  as  a 
teacher  and  reformer  in  Judaea.  It  is 
bound  by  traditions  and  observances,  and 
belongs  to  the  '  respectable  classes,'  while 
the  sheep  are  wandering  again  without 
any  shepherds. 

"  This  applies  particularly  to  populous 
cities  and  towns  and  to  what  we  call 
the  working-classes.  I  hate  the  cant  of 
that  expression.  Do  we  not  all  belong 


38      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

to  working-classes,  except  the  loafers  and 
tramps,  whether  rich  or  poor?  But  take 
those  who,  on  account  of  humble  capac- 
ity or  narrow  circumstances,  work  with 
their  hands  for  a  bare  subsistence,  the 
mass  of  the  poor  and  the  ignorant,  if  you 
will,  they  make  up  the  majority,  both 
socially  and  politically,  and  the  fate  of 
society  rests  with  them.  What  is  the 
wealth  and  intellect  of  society  doing  for 
them  ?  What  is  the  Church  doing  for 
them?  It  is  in  their  ranks  that  intern- 
perance  and  other  excesses  and  vices  are 
most  destructive.  They  are  the  people 
whom  the  organized  forces  of  religion 
and  morality  ought  to  reach." 

"But,"  insisted  Tom,  "they are  all  the 
time  trying  to  reach  them,  and  if  they 
will  not  come  into  the  fold  are  the  shep- 
herds to  blame  for  letting  them  wan- 
der?" 

"  Yes,"  replied  the  Judge  almost  impa- 
tiently. "  For  what  is  the  fold  that  they 
provide,  and  what  is  the  call  they  ad- 
dress to  the  sheep  ?  Is  it  a  fold  of  sober 
habits  and  decent  living,  of  better  views 
of  human  life  and  worldly  duty,  or  is  it  a 


SHEPHERDLESS  SHEEP.  39 

fold  of  faith,  of  belief,  in  which  the  vague 
and  incomprehensible  are  to  be  accepted 
as  a  condition  of  shelter?  Is  the  call  a 
call  to  comfort  and  a  better  condition 
here  below,  or  a  call  to  an  intangible 
reward  hereafter,  coupled  with  a  threat 
of  punishment  that  nobody  heeds  any 
longer? " 

"  Good  !  "  exclaimed  the  Colonel,  "  you 
are  coming  around  to  my  position, 
Judge." 

"  Don't  be  sure  of  that  until  you  know 
what  my  position  is.  I  am  not  talking 
about  matters  of  belief  just  now,  but  of 
the  way  of  reaching  and  reforming  peo- 
ple, and  I  tell  you  it  can  no  longer  be 
done  by  preaching  doctrines  at  them. 
They  don't  believe  your  doctrines,  and 
most  of  them  are  determined  not  to  be- 
lieve them ;  but  their  rejection  of  theo- 
logical teachings  does  not  relieve  the 
church  of  the  duty  of  trying  to  regener- 
ate the  lives  and  habits  of  those  who 
need  it.  Teaching  dogmas  first  and  mor- 
als afterward  is  the  wrong  way  to  go  to 
work.  It  may  be  that  the  doctrines  are 
outworn  and  outgrown  by  the  human 


4O     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

race,  but  the  fundamental  fault  is  in 
making  them  the  condition  of  material 
salvation. 

"  The  Christian  Church  has  very  largely 
lost  its  hold  upon  the  people  who  need 
to  be  guided  and  controlled  in  this  life. 
You  can  no  longer  make  people  content 
with  a  hard  lot  in  this  life  by  promising 
them  a  reward  in  the  life  to  come.  They 
are  confined  to  this  '  bank  and  shoal  of 
time/  and  want  a  little  comfort  here. 
They  are  dubious  about  the  life  to  come. 
You  can't  reconcile  them  any  longer  to 
what  they  believe  to  be  injustice  and 
wrong  by  telling  them  what  is  to  become 
of  the  oppressor  after  death,  and  that  the 
oppressed  will  then  go  free  and  the  hum- 
ble be  exalted.  They  are  apt  to  be 
contemptuous  of  this  sort  of  promise. 
They  want  wrongs  righted  now,  and  they 
are  bound  to  exert  their  power  to  get  it 
done,  and  that  power  once  exerted  with 
anything  like  union  would  be  terrible. 
Lack  of  union  alone  deprives  it  of  dan- 
ger to  the  social  fabric. 

"What  these  people  need  is  sym- 
pathy and  help  and  guidance,  and  they 


SHEPHERDLESS  SHEEP.  41 

are  not  getting  it — of  a  kind  that  does 
them  much  good.  They  are  distrustful 
of  the  '  respectable  classes/  who  take 
such  good  care  of  themselves  and  who 
control  the  churches  and  religious  organi- 
zations. They  look  upon  those  who  gain 
wealth  and  control  property  as  using 
their  abilities  and  their  advantages  self- 
ishly and  greedily,  to  get  possession  of 
more  than  their  fair  share  of  the  good 
things  of  this  life  and  as  drawing  to  them- 
selves more  of  the  products  of  the  toil  of 
the  millions  than  justly  belongs  to  them, 
and  trying  to  keep  those  who  do  the  bulk 
of  the  work  in  independence  and  subjec- 
tion. And  I  tell  you  they  have  too  much 
reason  for  feeling  that  way.  They  also 
feel  that  the  Church  as  an  organization 
and  a  power  in  society  is  on  the  side  of 
the  rich  and  *  respectable/  and  out  of 
sympathy  with  the  poor  in  their  strug- 
gles." 

"And  they  have  too  much  reason  for 
feeling  that  way,  too,"  interjected  the 
Colonel. 

"  Certainly  they  have,  altogether  too 
much.  How  much  do  the  high-priced 


42      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

ministers  up  town  condemn  the  grasping 
selfishness  of  capital  and  inculcate  upon 
their  wealthy  hearers  the  duty  of  doing 
full  justice  to  the  humble  workingmen? 
Does  the  Christianity  of  to-day  either  lit- 
erally or  figuratively  require  any  man  to 
sell  what  he  has  and  give  to  the  poor,  or 
even  to  forego  any  of  the  advantages  of 
his  position  to  benefit  the  condition  of 
others  ?  Do  the  preachers  venture  to 
condemn  the  most  iniquitous  practices  in 
business  and  politics  where  the  power  of 
money  is  used  to  increase  and  perpetuate 
the  advantage  of  capital  over  labor? 
Even  the  poorer  churches  situated  in  the 
midst  of  those  who  most  need  restraint 
and  guidance,  are  largely  sustained  and 
almost  wholly  controlled  as  to  policy  and 
methods  by  the  richer  element  in  '  the 
Church.'  They  accomplish  little  in  their 
way  and  would  never  be  allowed  to  adopt 
the  means  by  which  more  might  be  ac- 
complished." 

"What  means  are  those?"  queried 
Benedict,  as  if  rather  afraid  of  the  answer. 

"  Throwing  aside  the  everlasting  effort 
to  '  convict  of  sin  '  and  '  convert  to  faith/  " 


SHEPHERDLESS  SHEEP.  43 

and  endeavoring  to  reclaim  to  virtue  and 
better  living !  There  is  where  the  whole 
power  and  resources  of  the  Church  ought 
to  be  brought  to  bear ;  and  they  are  not. 
Hence  it  is  losing  its  conservative  power. 
Trie  people  are  looking  to  Communism 
and  Socialism  and  visionary  methods  of 
reform  in  their  condition,  and  going 
astray  in  many  of  their  efforts  to  right 
what  they  believe  to  be  wrongs,  and 
what  to  some  extent  at  least  are  so,  and 
neither  religion  nor  morality  stands  much 
in  their  way.  Labor  unions  are  a  good 
thing,  a  necessary  thing ;  but  what  could 
be  worse  than  their  keeping  a  man  out  of 
employment  and  trying  to  drive  him  to 
starvation  because  he  refuses  to  join  one  ? 
What  could  be  more  unjust  than  their 
stopping  a  man's  business  because  he  will 
not  discharge  workmen  for  no  reason  ex- 
cept that  they  do  not  choose  to  belong 
to  a  union  and  submit  their  rights  to 
a  committee?  What  could  be  meaner 
than  their  forcing  one  man's  workmen  to 
leave  him  because  some  other  man  has 
not  treated  his  workmen  fairly  ?  Mis- 
guided men  are  doing  such  things  and 


44       MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

many  others  which  the  moral  code  and 
religion  alike  forbid. 

"  The  moral  nature  of  mankind  is  ap- 
parently lapsing  from  discipline  and  be- 
ing governed  by  expediency.  In  busi- 
ness, in  politics,  in  '  labor  circles,'  people 
do  not  seem  to  inquire  with  much  anx- 
iety whether  a  thing  is  right,  whether  it 
is  just,  whether  it  is  in  accordance  with 
the  laws  of  God  ;  but  whether  it  will  pay, 
whether  it  will  succeed,  whether  it  will 
accomplish  the  end.  When  those  who 
stand  highest  in  the  Church  and  contrib- 
ute most  liberally  to  convert  the  hea- 
then follow  this  principle,  without  re- 
proval  from  their  pastors  and  without 
losing  any  of  the  odor  of  sanctity,  what 
is  to  be  expected  of  those  who  are  in  the 
darkness  of  ignorance  and  sin? 

"  The  old  motives  and  sanctions  of  re- 
ligion seem  to  have  lost  their  force,  as 
presented  in  our  day.  You  cannot  reach 
the  '  unregenerate '  with  them.  They 
are  based  upon  certain  views  of  this  life 
and  the  life  to  come  and  their  relations 
to  each  other  that  have  lost  their  hold. 
You  can  no  longer  arouse  the  mass  of  the 


SHEPHERDLESS  SHEEP.  45 

people  with  ideas  that  seem  to  be  irrel- 
evant to  their  condition  and  their  needs. 
Anyhow  they  will  not  accept  them,  and 
are  beginning  to  ask  awkward  questions. 
Nay,  those  in  the  churches  who  subscribe 
to  a  formal  acceptance  of  these  views 
show  in  their  daily  walk  and  conversation 
that  they  have  no  real  faith  in  them. 
Their  beliefs  afford  no  vital  force  to  their 
lives  and  conduct.  Even  the  ministers 
who  still  preach  these  views  of  man's  re- 
lations to  this  life  and  another  life  are 
full  of  doubts  about  their  creeds  and  doc- 
trines. They  hang  on  to  them  in  a 
formal  way  because  they  have  been  sanc- 
tioned and  sanctified  by  traditions  and 
decrees  which  they  are  reluctant  to  admit 
were  not  for  all  time." 

"  Well,  what  would  you  do  ?  "  asked 
Benedict  in  perplexity,  "  give  up  faith 
and  religion,  the  Bible,  the  Gospel,  every- 
thing that  has  been  held  sacred  and 
divine,  and  turn  the  church  into  a  moral 
and  material  improvement  society  ?  " 

"  O,  there  need  not  be  so  much  giving 
up  as  all  that,  though  I  think  concep- 
tions of  what  is  sacred  and  divine  need  to 


46       MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

be  changed  to  correspond  to  the  knowl- 
edge and  thought  of  the  present  age  ;  but 
a  great  moral  and  material  improvement 
society  we  do  greatly  need,  and  if  the 
Christian  Church  does  not  serve  that  pur- 
pose, pray,  what  is  it  to  do  for  mankind 
in  the  future,  and  how  is  this  need  to  be 
supplied  ?  I  think  it  is  the  proper  busi- 
ness of  Christianity  and  the  Church  to 
regenerate  mankind  in  this  world  and  for 
this  world,  if  they  are  to  justify  their  ex- 
istence to  this  generation  and  the  next. 
I  take  it  as  a  fundamental  principle  that 
whatever  makes  people  better  here  will 
improve  their  chances  in  any  possible 
hereafter,  and  until  you  find  means  of 
making  their  earthly  life  better,  it  is  use- 
less to  concern  yourself  about  some  other 
on  their  account.  The  lives  should  be 
taken  in  their  natural  order, — this  one 
first. 

"  But  I  had  no  notion  of  wandering 
into  theological  discussion.  My  point  is 
that  the  Christian  Church  is  not  doing 
the  work  which  belongs  to  it  to-day ;  that 
it  is  not  adapting  its  organization  and 
agencies  to  that  work ;  that  it  is  as  an 


SHEPHERDLESS  SHEEP.  47 

institution  in  the  position  to  do  this,  and 
society  is  suffering  because  it  is  not  done. 
The  sheep  are  wandering  in  the  wilder- 
ness for  lack  of  shepherds  whose  voice 
they  will  heed.  The  folds  are  not  wide 
enough,  they  are  not  easy  of  access,  and 
the  voices  that  call  are  forbidding  and 
threatening  rather  than  inviting  and  win- 
ning. It  is  time  for  a  new  reformation  of 
some  kind." 


Nobody  felt  prepared  to  dispute  these 
statements  at  the  moment  or  to  discuss 
such  deep  problems  as  were  suggested, 
and  the  party  broke  up. 


IV. 

THE  "OWLS"  TALK  ABOUT  SUNDAY  OB- 
SERVANCE. 

THE  next  time  I  was  present  at  the 
midnight  session  of  the  "  Owls,"  there 
had  been  a  desultory  talk  for  an  unusual 
length  of  time  on  various  trivial  things, 
and  it  looked  as  though  there  was  to  be 
no  serious  discourse,  when  Tom  Bene- 
dict remarked  uneasily  that  it  was  al- 
ready Sunday  morning. 

"  Well,  what  of  it  ?"  retorted  the  Colo- 
nel. "  What  better  use  can  we  make  of 
Sunday  morning  than  to  exchange  hon- 
est thought  about  things  that  concern 
mankind  ?  We  have  been  rather  frivo- 
lous while  it  was  Saturday  night,  now 
let's  be  serious.  By  the  way,  Judge, 
what  do  you  think  of  Sunday  observance, 
anyway  ?  " 

"  I  believe  thoroughly  in  observing 
Sunday  as  different  from  other  days," 


SUNDAY  OBSERVANCE. 


49 


replied  the  Judge  gravely,  "  but  I  think 
that  as  a  rule,  a  very  poor  use  is  made 
of  it ;  the  strict  religious  observance  in- 
sisted upon  by  so  many  good  people  does 
more  harm  than  good.  I  do  not  mean, 
of  course,  that  anything  they  or  others 
do  in  the  way  of  religious  observance 
does  harm  to  them  or  anybody  else,  but 
the  general  strictness  insisted  on  does 
harm  by  preventing  many  profitable  uses 
of  the  day  from  which  a  great  general 
benefit  might  come." 

"  But  you  would  not  have  it  simply  a 
day  of  rest  and  amusement  ? "  queried 
Benedict. 

"  Not  simply  that.  I  would  have  it  a 
day  of  rest  from  ordinary  labor,  so  far  as 
practicable,  and  would  resist  any  en- 
croachment upon  it  as  such,  and  I  see 
no  objection  to  its  being  a  day  of  amuse- 
ment, so  far  as  amusement  is  innocent 
and  harmless.  In  fact,  I  consider  that 
one  of  the  most  legitimate  uses  to  put  it 
to.  The  people  need  re-creation,  in  the 
strict  sense  of  the  word,  after  their  week 
of  toil  and  business.  Rest  is  essential ; 
worship  and  religious  exercises  are  good, 


50    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

but  a  fair  share  of  amusement  is  good,  too. 
The  people  will  get  their  amusement  in 
some  form  in  spite  of  the  Sabbatarians ; 
and  where  the  harm,  comes  in  is  in  trying 
so  to  restrict  it  as  to  make  the  indul- 
gence less  orderly  and  innocent  than  it 
might  be  ;  and,  still  more,  in  so  barbar- 
ously narrowing  the  opportunities  for  in- 
struction and  mental  and  moral  benefit. 
Sunday  ought  to  be  a  great  day  for  in- 
struction and  improvement  for  all  classes 
of  people. 

"  I  have  an  entire  sympathy  with  any 
kind  of  worship  that  suits  the  feelings 
of  those  who  take  part  in  it  ;  but,  under 
present  religious  conditions,  which  you 
know  I  do  not  think  are  what  they  ought 
to  be,  the  vast  majority  of  the  people 
in  a  great  city  like  this  have  little  or  no 
share  in  regular  Sunday  worship,  and  if 
they  did  generally  take  part  in  it  they 
could  not  be  expected  to  devote  the 
whole  day  to  it.  Why  should  the  good, 
pious  people  wish  to  restrict  the  use  of 
the  day  to  worship  and  either  weariness 
or  religious  dissipation  ?  The  wealth,  the 
intellect,  and  the  moral  character  of  the 


SUNDA  Y  OBSEK  VANCE.  5  I 

community,  and  especially  the  religious 
spirit,  ought  to  be  devoted  on  this  weekly 
day  of  leisure  to  the  work  of  enlightening 
and  improving  those  who  are  in  need 
of  it." 

"  You  mean,  I  suppose,  that  libraries 
and  reading  rooms  and  museums  and 
picture  galleries  should  be  open  on  Sun- 
day," said  Benedict.  "  I  am  a  church- 
man myself,  but  I  am  inclined  to  agree 
with  you  there." 

"  I  mean  a  good  deal  more  than  that," 
replied  the  Judge.  "That  those  institu- 
tions should  be  closed  just  when  they 
might  do  the  most  good  I  consider  to  be 
simply  heathenish,  un-Christian,  almost  in- 
human. Of  course  they  should  be  open, 
and  there  should  be  more  of  them,  with 
all  their  facilities  for  rational  enjoyment 
and  for  mental  and  moral  improvement 
freely  accessible  to  all.  Our  wealthy 
men,  if  they  had  a  proper  sense  of  their 
obligation  to  the  community  in  which 
their  wealth  is  made,  would  see  that 
these  places  were  multiplied  and  enriched 
until  the  treasures  of  science  and  art  and 
literature  were  open  to  the  study  and 


52     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

use  of  all  who  could  or  would  profit  by 
them.  It  would  create  an  immense  in- 
fluence  for  good,  which  would  contribute 
to  the  comfort  and  safety  of  the  com- 
munity, and  be  indirectly  as  much  a 
benefit  to  the  rich  as  to  the  poor.  No 
great  benefit  would  come  from  having  all 
these  things  if  they  were  locked  up  on 
Sunday,  which  is  the  only  time  that  the 
great  mass  of  the  people  could  avail 
themselves  of  them. 

"  Perhaps  that  is  one  reason  why  we 
are  so  poor  in  them.  The  Sunday  sup- 
pression prevents  the  demand  for  them 
from  being  felt,  prevents  their  vast  utility 
from  being  demonstrated,  and  discour- 
ages the  munificence  that  might  other- 
wise be  displayed.  Why,  to  my  mind 
religious  people  and  Christian  churches 
ought  to  demand  the  opening  of  such  in- 
stitutions on  Sunday  as  a  help  to  the 
great  work  of  regenerating  and  elevating 
mankind,  to  which  nominally  they  are 
themselves  devoted.  They  are  now 
blindly  obstructing  and  hindering  it  by 
their  narrow  views  of  the  day  which 
Christ  said  was  made  for  man.  In  fact 


S  UNDA  y  OBSER  VA  NCE.  5  3 

we  have  no  Christian  Sunday  now,  but 
a  kind  of  distorted  copy  of  the  Jewish 
Sabbath  of  Moses,  which  had  a  purpose 
in  its  time  very  different  from  that  which 
needs  to  be  served  to-day  by  consecrat- 
ing one  day  in  the  week." 

"  But  you  said  you  meant  more  than 
opening  libraries  and  museums,"  sug- 
gested Tom,  as  the  Judge  set  out  to 
relight  his  cigar,  which  he  had  held  be- 
tween his  fingers  while  he  talked. 

"Yes,  I  do  ;  a  good  deal  more,"  and 
he  laid  the  cigar,  unllghted,  on  the  edge 
of  the  table,  as  if  something  of  more 
weight  than  smoking  was  on  his  mind 
just  then.  "Some  time  ago,  last  week, 
wasn't  it  ?  I  spoke  about  the  short-com- 
ings of  the  churches  in  the  matter  of 
reclaiming  the  people  from  the  sordid 
conditions  of  life,  from  ignorant  views 
of  their  own  needs  and  the  methods  of 
meeting  them,  from  intemperance  and 
vice,  and  all  the  evils  that  beset  the  race 
when  unenlightened.  I  spoke  of  their 
insistence  upon  doctrines  and  beliefs 
which  the  people  will  not  accept,  as 
standing  in  the  way  of  their  real  work, 


54      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

and  of  the  close  corporation  of  wealth 
and  respectability  in  the  churches  as 
being  inconsistent  with  real  Christianity 
and  its  purposes. 

''Well,  now,  I  think  Sunday  should 
be  eminently  a  day  for  this  work  of  re- 
generating mankind.  ('Regenerating*  is 
a  good  word  when  it  is  not  abused.)  It 
should  be  a  day  not  simply  for  preach- 
ing what  somebody  regards  as  the  gospel 
of  salvation  in  the  life  to  come,  but  for 
teaching  whatever  pertains  to  men's  well- 
being  in  the  life  that  now  is.  We  have 
our  educated  and  talented  people,  our 
men  of  experience  and  ideas,  and  I  think 
we  might  have  a  good  deal  of  philan- 
thropic zeal  aroused  for  diffusing  the 
benefit  of  what  they  know  and  think 
among  those  who  have  little  opportunity 
for  reaching  right  opinions  on  matters 
that  most  nearly  concern  themselves. 
It  seems  to  me  this  philanthropic  dis- 
position might  be  developed  and  di- 
rected by  opening  the  channels  for  it 
and  by  making  an  organized  effort.  It 
would  not  be  easy  for  any  one  to  build 
up  a  new  organization  for  the  purpose. 


SUNDA  Y  OBSER  VANCE.  5  5 

or  to  secure  the  opening  of  new  channels  ; 
but  there  stands  the  Church,  ready  or- 
ganized, with  great  possibilities  of  power 
and  influence.  There  it  stands,  a  tre- 
mendous obstruction,  instead  of  leading 
the  way  and  setting  the  work  on  foot. 

"  Why,  this  city  of  New  York  ought  to 
be  full  of  gathering-places  for  the  people, 
scattered  through  all  its  quarters,  ample 
enough  to  accommodate  all  comers,  and 
on  every  Sunday  they  ought  to  be  cen- 
tres of  instruction  and  elevating  influ- 
ence, varied  with  relaxation  and  harmless 
amusement.  They  should  be  plain  and 
inexpensive  buildings,  but  rich  in  appli- 
ances for  mental  and  moral  stimulus. 
They  should  have  appropriate  stores  of 
literature,  attractive  features  for  ease  and 
comfort,  but,  above  all,  they  should  pro- 
vide means  of  instruction,  classes  for 
those  who  need  them,  but  mainly  lec- 
tures and  talks  and  discussions  relating 
to  the  problems  of  this  human  life.  All 
that  is  involved  in  the  labor  question, 
the  temperance  question,  the  interests 
and  duties  of  citizens  and  their  relations 
to  society  and  the  State  ;  in  short,  every- 


56     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

thing  in  which  the  people  need  enlighten- 
ment, direction,  sympathy,  and  encour- 
agement should  be  made  the  subject  of 
this  Sunday  work,  and  the  talent  and 
good-will  of  the  people  capable  of  con- 
tributing to  it,  should  be  enlisted  and 
turned  into  it  so  far  as  possible.  Sunday 
would  become  a  great  day,  with  all  the 
appliances  that  wealth,  leisure,  education, 
talent,  and  philanthropic  effort  could 
supply  directed  to  making  it  a  Sabbath, 
for  it  would  be  a  Christian  Sabbath,  or 
rest-day,  in  the  highest  sense. 

"  The  good  church  people  seem  to  be 
grieved  at  the  way  in  which  a  large  por- 
tion of  the  people  do  actually  spend  their 
Sundays.  These  not  only  seek  such 
diversions  as  are  open  to  them,  and  in 
summer  time  indulge  in  excursions  and 
picnics,  but  they  are  apt  to  fall  into  un- 
seemly revelry  and  disorder.  Some  of 
them  are  too  ready  for  the  mischief 
which  Satan  finds  for  idle  hands  to  do, 
and  more  of  them  spend  their  time  in 
mere  loafing  and  drinking.  Shutting 
them  out  from  a  rational  and  improving 
employment  of  their  time  does  not  drive 


SUNDA  Y  OBSER  VANCE.  5  / 

them  to  church  and  Sunday-school.  The 
driving-process  for  making  people  do 
better  is  never  successful.  But  they 
are  driven  back  upon  their  own  re- 
sources, which  are  not  very  good.  Sa- 
loon-keepers are  ready  enough  with  their 
hospitable  side  doors  to  help  them  pass 
the  time  and  spend  their  earnings.  It  is 
the  intolerant  spirit  of  the  Sabbatarians 
that  is  largely  responsible  for  the  worst 
uses  to  which  Sunday  is  put,  because 
they  object  to  better  uses,  and  stand  in 
the  way  of  their  adoption,  except  those 
whicn  they  themselves  prescribe,  and 
those  a  great  part  of  the  people  will  not 
have.  The  best  way  to  keep  people  out 
of  saloons  and  evil  resorts  and  induce 
them  to  abstain  from  deviltry  on  the 
Lord's  day,  is  to  give  them  better  places 
to  go  to  and  better  things  to  do,  to 
which  they  will  be  attracted.  It  would 
not  change  human  nature  and  regenerate 
society  all  at  once,  but  it  would  set 
wholesome  influences  at  work,  the  effect 
of  which  would  soon  be  visible  and 
would  increase  very  fast." 

Tom  Benedict  had   been  showing   un- 


58      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

easiness  for  some  time  as  the  Judge  set 
forth  these  heretical  views,  and  at  the 
first  decided  pause  ventured  to  suggest 
that  the  church  view  of  Sunday  observ- 
ance was  not  a  matter  of  mere  human 
prescription.  He  regarded  it  as  a  matter 
of  divine  ordinance  and  command,  not  to 
be  lightly  set  aside  by  Christians  on  the 
ground  of  social  expediency. 

"  I  cannot  see,"  replied  the  Judge, 
"  why  we  should  not  take  a  sensible 
view  of  what  Divine  command  is  and 
from  what  it  is  to  be  derived.  I  do  not 
admit  that  your  church  view  of  Sunday 
is  a  Christian  view,  in  the  sense  that  it 
was  sanctioned  by  Christ's  teachings.  I 
think  the  very  contrary.  It  is  rather  a 
revival  in  modern  times  of  the  Hebrew 
idea,  for  which  the  English  Puritans 
were  largely  responsible.  It  was  a  part 
of  the  dismal  repression  which  they  in- 
fused into  religion,  and  it  is  singular  how 
far  they  forced  their  spirit  upon  English 
and  American  Protestantism.  Why  on 
earth  should  we  in  this  age  of  the  world 
model  our  day  of  rest  on  the  Jewish  Sab- 
bath of  three  or  four  thousand  years 


SUN  DA  Y  OBSER  VANCE.  5  9 

ago?  Why  insist  even  that  the  Chris- 
tian Sunday  is  the  same  thing  as  the 
Mosaic  seventh  day? 

"  I  have  a  great  deal  of  admiration  for 
Moses,  but  he  did  his  work  a  long  time 
ago,  and  h«  did  it  for  the  people  under 
his  charge,  in  conditions  that  ceased  to 
exist  ages  ago.  He  had  some  concep- 
tions which,  like  those  of  other  great 
men,  are  good  for  all  time,  but  he  was 
not  making  laws  and  ordinances  for  Eu- 
rope^ and  America  in  the  nineteenth  cent- 
ury of  the  Christian  era,  of  which  he  had 
no  conception  whatever.  The  genius  of 
Moses  appears  in  nothing  so  remarkably, 
as  in  the  largeness  of  mind  with  which  he 
appropriated  the  noblest  conceptions  of 
earlier  '  seekers  after  God  '  for  the  use 
of  his  own  people.  Men  had  long  before 
found  out  that  it  was  evil  to  steal,  to 
murder,  to  commit  adultery,  etc.  ;  Moses 
formulated  it  into  simple  law.  The 
Chaldaeans,  two  thousand  years  before, 
observed  every  seventh  day,  as  what  they 
called  Sabbattu — 'a  day  of  rest  for  the 
soul ' ;  Moses  proclaimed  its  observance 
as  a  duty  to  Jehovah. 


60     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

"  He  had  a  very  difficult  undertaking, 
had  Moses,  in  rescuing  a  horde  of  ig- 
norant slaves  from  Egyptian  bondage 
and  establishing  them  in  their  promised 
land  as  a  great  nation-.  It  was  one  of 
the  great  exploits  of  early  history,  for  I 
assume  that  it  was  in  its  main  substance 
a  historical  event,  as  truly  as  the  siege  of 
Troy,  however  much  of  the  marvellous 
and  the  mythical  there  may  be  in  the  ac- 
counts of  it,  as  in  accounts  of  all  great 
events  of  the  early  history  of  mankind. 
It  was  a  time  of  superstition,  of  signs  and 
wonders,  and  of  religions  even  the  best  of 
which  were  Paganism,  according  to  any 
modern  view.  Moses  could  never  by  his 
personal  authority  have  kept  that  people 
in  subjection  and  carried  out  his  mission. 
The  Hebrews  had  their  conception  of  a 
deity,  like  other  peoples  of  the  time,  and 
it  was  undoubtedly  a  high  conception  for 
those  days,  and  Moses  developed  and 
magnified  it  to  very  good  effect,  and  the 
annalists  of  his  achievements  doubtless 
did  it  a  good  deal  more.  But  the  Deity 
of  Moses  was  strictly  the  God  of  the  He- 
brews and  of  nobody  else,  and  with  the 


SUN  DA  Y  OBSER  VA  NCE.  6 1 

tendency  to  gross  idolatry  all  about  them 
it  required  a  good  deal  of  impressive 
demonstration  to  keep  them  obedient 
and  loyal  to  him.  He  was  their  ruler 
and  their  King,  and  he  must  be  regarded 
with  awe  in  order  to  be  obeyed.  Theoc- 
racy was  natural  to  the  time  and  people, 
and  furnished  to  Moses  just  the  agency 
he  required  for  his  great  mission.  It  was 
one  of  the  striking  and  notable  develop- 
ments^ of  early  human  history,  and  its 
influence,  like  that  of  so  many  other 
striking  developments,  is  felt  yet. 

"  But,  after  all,  the  laws  and  ordi- 
nances laid  down  by  Moses  were  for  the 
children  of  Israel  in  the  situation  in 
which  he  had  to  deal  with  them.  The 
worship  and  observances  which  he  pre- 
scribed were  proper  to  the  Supreme 
Deity — '  the  Highest,'  as  the  Chaldaean 
Abraham  called  Him,  in  comparison  with 
the  multitude  of  'other  gods' — as  Moses 
and  the  Israelites  conceived  Him,  and  the 
rules  and  rites  were  intended  very  largely 
to  restrain  the  people  from  idolatry,  from 
straying  after  the  gods  of  other  people, 
and  to  induce  subjection  and  obedience. 


62     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

One  of  the  methods  of  holding  the  minds 
of  the  people  in  subjection  to  Jehovah 
and  to  his  servant,  Moses,  was  the  en- 
tire devotion  of  one  day  in  seven  to  his 
worship  and  the  sacrifices  of  the  priests 
and  the  rest  from  all  ordinary  occupa- 
tions. But  even  the  Hebrew  Sabbath 
was  pharisaically  distorted  by  the  Puri- 
tans, as  it  had  been  by  the  most  relig- 
ious classes  in  the  time  of  Jesus,  and  as 
it  is  now.  The  early  Jews  not  only  wor- 
shipped Jehovah  and  studied  his  law  on 
the  Sabbath,  but  they  marked  the  day 
by  better  clothes,  finer  food  and  genial, 
kindly  social  enjoyment.  One  of  the 
notable  things  in  the  history  of  Jesus  is 
the  number  of  dinners  and  suppers  and 
feasts  he  went  to  '  on  the  Sabbath  day.' 
And  even  he  was  never  accused  of  break- 
ing the  Sabbath  for  that.  Any  one  who 
does  not  confine  his  attention  to  the  Ten 
Commandments,  but  studies  the  account 
of  all  the  Mosaic  lawgiving  cannot  fail 
to  see  how  human  it  all  was,  and  how 
in  keeping  with  the  character  and  situa- 
tion of  the  people.  Its  practical  purpose 
is  plain  enough. 


SUNDA  Y  OBSER  VANCE.  6  3 

"  With  the  theocratic  nature  of  the 
government  established  for  the  tribes, 
in  anticipation  of  their  settlement  in 
the  land  of  their  fathers,  it  was  per- 
fectly natural  that  we  should  have  '  The 
Lord  said  unto  Moses '  or  '  The  Lord 
spake  unto  Moses,  saying,'  or  'Thus 
saith  the  Lord,'  instead  of  '  Be  it  en- 
acted,' or  '  It  is  decreed  by  Moses/ 
Meses  felt  himself  possessed  by  '  the 
Spirit  of  the  Lord  '  and  he  thundered  it 
forth ;  and  was  listened  to.  Now,  I  be- 
lieve in  having  one  day  in  seven  set  apart 
and  consecrated  for  the  people  of  our  day 
and  generation,  adapted  to  their  condi- 
tions and  needs,  and  calculated  to  elevate 
their  lives  and  characters,  without  regard 
to  what  may  have  been  most  necessary 
and  fitting  for  the  children  of  Israel  forty 
centuries  ago,  when  they  had  just  emerged 
from  a  long  slavery  and  were  about  to  set 
out  on  a  great  history  as  an  independent 
people  in  the  Land  of  Canaan." 


"  The  Judge  seems  to  be  a  good  deal 
of  a  free-thinker,"  I  observed  to  Tom,  as 


64     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

we  came  out  into  the  night,  which  was 
rather  dreary. 

"  Yes,"  was  the  reply,  "  he  is  an  ab- 
solute free-thinker  about  everything.  I 
only  wish  I  was  enough  of  a  student  and 
of  a  talker  to  answer  him,  for  I  know 
there  are  answers  to  his  views  that  are 
very  convincing.  But  he  is  too  much  for 
me,  and  I  should  only  get  demolished  if  I 
undertook  to  reply  to  him,  for  he  has  a 
vast  deal  of  learning  on  the  subject  at 
command,  which  I  am  not  familiar  with." 

"Perhaps  if  you  were,  you  would  be 
still  less  inclined  to  tackle  him,"  I  re- 
marked, and  left  Tom  at  his  corner  to 
pursue  his  own  cogitations,  while  I  sought 
my  couch  with  supreme  unconcern  as  to 
the  outcome  of  the  controversy. 


V. 


THE    JUDGE    DISCOURSES  AT  LARGE    ON 
RELIGION. 

THE  "  Owls  "  gathered  again  the  next 
Saturday  night  in  the  inmost  recesses  of 
the  Asphodel  grottoes  and  I  was  on 
hand  early — that  is,  considerably  before 
twelve  o'clock  had  struck.  I  anticipated 
a  resumption  of  the  Sunday  talk,  or  at 
least  some  sort  of  a  sequel  to  it,  and 
I  was  not  disappointed.  The  Judge's 
remarks  about  Sunday  observance  and 
the  attitude  of  the  churches  were  upper- 
most in  the  minds  of  those  present,  and 
it  did  not  take  long  to  open  up  the 
subject  again.  Tom's  mind  being  the 
most  anxious,  he  was  the  first  to  set  the 
Judge  going. 

"  I  am  afraid  you  are  not  altogether  in 
sympathy  with  the  Christianity  of  the 
day,"  he  said  rather  uneasily,  addressing 
himself  to  the  Mentor  of  his  youth  and 


66     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

manhood,    "  judging    from   your   talk   a 
week  ago." 

"  Well,  I  do  not  quite  like  to  say  I  am 
not  in  sympathy  with  it,  for  I  am  a 
believer  in  the  necessity  and  the  benefit 
of  religion  for  mankind,  and  the  present 
Christianity  is  the  best  we  have  now  ; 
but  I  do  feel  that  the  Church  has  failed 
to  adapt  itself  in  recent  years  to  the 
progress  of  ideas,  that  it  has  got  out  of 
sympathy  with  the  spirit  of  the  time, 
has  largely  lost  its  hold  upon  the  people, 
and  is  not  doing  anything  like  the 
good  it  might  do.  I  want  to  see  it 
revise  its  Constitution,  so  to  speak,  and 
adjust  itself  to  the  conditions  and  needs 
of  the  present  day.  I  would  not  on  any 
account  be  numbered  among  the  assail- 
ants of  religion  or  the  assailants  of 
Christianity.  It  seems  to  me  just  as 
senseless  as  assailing  government  or  as- 
sailing republicanism  because  principles 
become  distorted  and  misapplied  and 
methods  of  administration  are  subject 
to  abuses.  People  need  religion,  and  are 
better  for  it,  but,  like  everything  pertain- 
ing to  human  life,  it  is  a  matter  of  de- 


RELIGION.  67 

velopment   and   adaptation   to   changing 
character  and  needs. 

"  Why,  you  can  hardly  pretend  to 
think  that,  while  people  cling  so  to  the 
sacredness  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures, 
they  really  believe  in  the  cosmogony  of 
Genesis,  the  mythology  of  Moses,  and 
the  Israelite  conception  of  God,  or  regard 
the  annals  and  chronicles  of  the  Jewish 
dynasties  and  struggles,  full  of  imperfec- 
tions and  inconsistencies  as  they  are,  as 
a  record  *  inspired  '  in  any  such  sense  as 
to  imply  that  it  is  infallibly  correct  ?  It 
seems  strange  to  me  that  people  should 
continue  to  discuss  the  matter  seriously 
and  give  the  opponents  of  their  religion 
such  a  vantage-ground  of  attack.  The 
fact  is  that  people  do  not  believe  these 
things,  however  they  may  acquiesce  in 
traditions  that  the  Church  has  not  given 
up  for  fear  of  disastrous  consequences 
that  would  never  come.  But  why  at- 
tack Moses  and  his  laws  and  denounce 
the  God  of  Israel  and  the  manner  of 
worshipping  Him  ?  It  was  all  a  very 
wonderful  development  for  its  time,  far 
above  anything  then  existing,  at  least  in 


68       MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

the  same  part  of  the  world,  and  it  raise 
the  Jewish  nation  immensely.  It  w; 
the  first  great  development  of  hums 
genius  applied  to  religion,  and  the  wo 
der  is  not  that  the  conception  of  Gc 
and  of  worship  was  so  gross  and  mat  eric 
but  that  it  was  not  more  so. 

"  Jehovah,  the  Deity  of  a  race,  of  a  p 
culiar  people,  with  his  '  jealousy,'  his  ten 
ble  power,  his  fierce  anger,  and  his  love  < 
sacrifices  and  burnt  offerings,  is,  accordir 
to  modern  ideas,  a  heathen  conceptioi 
and  his  worship  was  a  kind  of  paganisr 
But  it  was  a  far  more  exalted  conceptic 
than  that  of  the  tribes  that  surrounde 
the  Hebrews,  and  the  worship  was  r 
ligion  pure  and  undefiled  compared  1 
theirs.  I  regard  Jehovah  and  his  wo 
ship  and  his  government  as  a  productio 
of  the  religious  genius  of  the  Hebrew 
and  not  as  a  Divine  revelation  to  tf 
human  race,  except  so  far  as  all  manife 
tations  of  humanity  may  be  so  regardei 
Even  as  a  revelation,  it  must  be  judge 
by  higher  and  better  ones, — such  as  a] 
pear  in  the  later  Hebrew  Scriptures  then 
selves.  But  the  system  was  an  outgrowt 


RELIGION.  69 

of  the  character  and  wants  of  the  people, 
and  was  a  great  help  to  their  progress 
until  they  at  last  failed  to  adapt  it  to 
their  advancement,  allowed  it  to  fossilize, 
and  then  they  fell  away  from  all  vital  re- 
ligion. Now,  Jews  and  Christians  both 
keep  up  the  pretence  of  sanctifying  the 
fossils. 

"  It  is  not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at 
that  the  early  efforts  of  the  Jews  to 
account  for  the  origin  of  the  world  and 
the  human  race  should  be  crude  and 
fabulous,  like  those  of  all  other  ancient 
peoples.  The  wonder  is  that  people 
with  brains  at  this  age  of  the  world 
should  persist  in  trying  to  regard  them 
as  anything  else  and  to  reconcile  them 
with  science.  It  is  not  at  all  strange  that 
the  account  of  Moses's  dealings  with 
the  children  of  Israel  should  contain  so 
much  of  the  mythical  and  the  miracu- 
lous. The  conception  of  God  as  their 
Ruler  came  naturally  to  them,  and  the 
character  he  assumed  in  that  conception 
was  one  adapted  to  their  comprehension 
and  calculated  to  secure  obedience  to 
the  leaders  through  whom  his  commands 


70     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

came  to  them.  That  all  commands  an< 
laws  and  ordinances  should  be  put  ii 
form  as  emanating  directly  from  the  in 
visible  Ruler  was  natural, — even  neces 
sary ;  and  the  worship  devised  was  cal 
culated  to  impress  the  people  and  mak 
them  submissive.  But  what  man  o 
sense  can  really  study  these  things  with 
out  seeing  their  peculiar  fitness  for  thei 
time  and  place,  and  their  incongruity 
with  the  present  state  of  the  world?  I 
needs  no  learning,  only  common  sense 
You  must  have  noticed  how  purely  ; 
matter  of  this  world  it  all  was.  Th 
offences  and  penalties,  some  of  then 
characteristic  only  of  barbarism,  had  t< 
do  with  material  things  alone.  All  prom 
ises  and  menaces  related  to  the  well-be 
ing — the  worldly,  material  well-being — o 
that  particular  people  in  the  land  whicl 
was  given  them.  There  is  nothing  spii 
itual  in  the  motives  and  ends  inculcated 
There  was  no  conception  of  immortalit; 
or  of  any  other  life  than  this,  and  n< 
regard  for  any  other  people  but  the  chii 
dren  of  Israel. 

"  What  I  am  driving  at   in  all   this  i 


RELIGION.  7 1 

the  idea  that  in  all  times  religion  has 
been  a  matter  of  development — of  evolu- 
tion, if  you  please — just  as  government 
has  been ;  that  it  has  been  the  production 
of  the  genius  of  the  peoples,  springing 
from  their  highest  conception  of  Deity, 
human  duty,  and  human  destiny ;  has 
found  form  and  expression  through  their 
prophets  and  leaders,  and  has  been 
adapted  from  time  to  time  to  their  needs, 
or  else  has  lost  its  hold  and  left  them  to 
lapse  into  irreligion." 

11  But  you  do  not  deny  that  there  was 
much  of  permanent  value  in  the  religion 
of  the  ancient  Hebrews,"  suggested  Ben- 
edict. 

"  Why,  of  course  not.  One  genera- 
tion or  one  age  does  not  improvidently 
throw  away  the  fruits  of  the  experience 
of  those  that  have  gone  before  it.  There 
is  much  of  permanent  value  in  the  ex- 
perience and  teachings  of  all  ancient 
peoples  who  were  not  in  abject  barbar- 
ism. We  do  not  regard  the  writings  of 
Plato  and  the  sayings  of  Socrates  as 
'sacred  '  because  they  contained  wisdom 
of  permanent  value  to  the  human  race, 


72      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

nor  do  we  hesitate  to  reject  what  later 
experience  and  thought  concludes  to  be 
worthless  for  us.  Our  conception  of  the 
age  of  the  world  is  apt  to  get  inverted. 
The  world  was  not  old  in  those  ancient 
days,  but  young.  It  is  older  now  than 
it  ever  was  before,  and  the  human  race 
has  had  more  experience.  In  fact,  it  has 
advanced  more  in  knowledge  and  achieve- 
ment and  in  thought  in  the  last  fifty 
years  than  it  has  sometimes  done  in  ten 
times  that  period.  Progress  is  made  by 
holding  to  the  wisdom  of  one  age,  sifting 
it  from  the  chaff  in  which  it  is  more  or 
less  enveloped,  and  adding  to  it.  Prog- 
ress is  hindered  by  assuming  that  on 
some  subject  of  vital  concern  the  last 
word  was  spoken  ages  ago,  or  that  the 
word  then  spoken  is  not  to  be  disputed 
or  enquired  into.  Men  must  advance  in 
their  religion  as  in  other  things,  or  it  will 
cease  to  fit  the  human  race  and  to  help  it 
onward  and  upward." 

"But,"  queried  Benedict,  "  did  not 
the  advent  of  Christianity  make  a  great 
change,  doing  away  with  the  dead  forms 
of  Hebrew  worship,  replacing  with  living 


RELIGION.  73 

principles  the  detailed  mandates  of  the 
old  law,  and  modifying  the  Hebrew  con- 
ceptions of  divinity?  " 

"  Precisely  that.  It  relegated  the  old 
system  to  the  limbo  of  dead  mythologies, 
and  made  its  records  a  history  and  a  liter- 
ature, interesting  for  study  and  useful  for 
instruction  more  or  less.  Why  not  admit 
and  accept  this,  instead  of  insisting  that 
certain  books  of  the  Hebrew  people  were 
the  inspired  word  of  God  and  not  to  be 
really  studied  and  criticised,  simply  be- 
cause a  convocation  of  priests  some  cen- 
turies after  Christ  made  '  Holy  Script- 
ure '  of  them,  deciding  which  were 
inspired  and  which  were  not.  Science, 
including  that  of  historical  criticism,  will 
be  accepted  by  the  best  minds  and  by 
common  sense,  and  it  is  useless  to  fight 
against  it ;  although  based  on  material 
facts,  it  changes  and  grows  with  an  ad- 
vancing knowledge  of  the  facts.  So 
Christianity  has  been  a  matter  of  growth 
and  adaptation  in  the  past,  and  must 
be  in  the  future  if  it  is  to  retain  its 
power  for  good.  The  life  and  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  were  its  foundation,  and  I 


74      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

see  no  prospect  of  an  improvement 
upon  those,  rightly  interpreted  and  ap- 
plied ;  but  Jesus  founded  no  church, 
organized  no  system,  formulated  no 
creeds.  That  has  been  the  work  of 
others,  and  it  has  undergone  much  trans- 
formation since  the  days  of  the  Fathers 
of  the  church.  The  Christianity  of  the 
Middle  Ages  was  not  that  of  the  Fathers, 
and  the  Christianity  of  to-day  is  not  that 
of  the  Middle  Ages. 

"  The  trouble  with  the  Church  now  is 
that  human  progress  during  the  present 
century  has  been  very  rapid  and  very 
great,  in  scientific  knowledge,  in  histor- 
ical knowledge,  in  all  manner  of  intel- 
lectual development  and  achievement, 
and  even  in  moral  conception,  and  the 
Church  has  not  kept  up  with  it.  The 
Church  seems  to  have  ceased  to  examine 
all  things  and  to  hold  fast  that  which 
is  good,  but  rather  to  persist  in  holding 
fast  that  which  is  traditional  and  con- 
ventional. If  Christianity  is  to  take  pos- 
session of  mankind  again,  it  must  accept 
what  mankind  has  learned,  take  in  the 
results  of  man's  experience,  and  adapt 


RELIGION.  75 

its  methods  to  living  conditions  and 
needs. 

"  What  do  we  see  now  ?  Acquiescence 
in  certain  man-made  and  unyielding  creeds 
by  intelligent,  well-meaning  men,  because 
it  is  socially  respectable,  morally  inspir- 
ing perhaps  for  them  personally  (though 
that  is  subject  to  doubt),  a  good  thing, 
they  think,  for  their  families  and  a  means 
of  doing  something  in  a  perfunctory  way 
for  charity  ;  a  general  rejection  of  these 
old  forms,  creeds  and  systems  of  belief 
by  scholars  and  students  and  earnest 
thinkers, — those  I  mean  who  think  with 
their  brains  and  accept  the  conclusions  of 
thought,  and  not  those  whose  cerebra- 
tions are  controlled  by  feeling  and  senti- 
ment and  who  only  imagine  that  they 
think ;  and  the  alienation  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  poor  and  the  humble  from 
the  influence  of  religion.  With  all  our 
outworn  creeds  and  conflicting  sects  we 
have  little  vital  Christianity  in  these 
days,  and,  as  I  said  before,  the  sheep  are 
wandering  without  a  shepherd." 

"  But  you  do  not  suppose,"  interjected 
the  anxious  Thomas,  "  that  the  mass  of 


76     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

unlettered  people  understand  the  results 
of  historical  criticism  to  which  you  have 
referred,  that  they  appreciate  the  conclu- 
sions of  science,  or  that  they  are  capable  of 
being  restrained  and  guided  by  mere  mor- 
al principles,  philosophically  inculcated  !  " 
"  I  believe  that  the  unlettered  people, 
as  you  call  them,  can  be  better  restrained 
and  guided  by  accepting  facts  and  the 
conclusions  of  reason,  by  admitting  the 
truth  that  can  be  justified  and  defended 
to  their  common  sense,  than  by  clinging 
to  errors  and  delusions  which  make  it 
necessary  to  appeal  to  superstition.  The 
wisdom  of  the  age  is  not  confined  to  the 
learned.  The  results  of  science  and  the 
conclusions  of  philosophic  study  get 
abroad  and  permeate  the  common  mind 
— they  are  *  in  the  air/  as  the  saying  is. 
There  is  a  receptive  instinct  among  the 
people  which  makes  them,  in  general, 
capable  of  learning  what  the  highest 
minds  are  capable  of  teaching,  and  some- 
how the  essence  of  it  gets  to  them 
through  the  universal  contact  that  is 
characteristic  of  the  time.  The  minds  of 
the  unlettered  are  not  so  far  removed 


RELIGION.  77 

from  those  of  the  lettered  but  that  a 
common  spirit  in  matters  of  belief  and 
unbelief  pervades  them.  There  are  acute 
and  penetrating  minds,  addicted  to  read- 
ing and  thinking  and  talking,  even  among 
the  '  common  people,'  and  ideas  spread 
when  they  are  of  the  kind  that  the  men- 
tal atmosphere  is  prepared  to  carry  and 
the  mental  soil  ready  to  receive. 

"  I  knew  an  old  Scotch  weaver  once, 
who,  for  general  information  and  reading 
and  the  power  to  digest  and  assimilate 
what  he  acquired  and  to  communicate  it 
to  others,  was  the  superior  of  any  man  I 
know  in  this  club.  I  tell  you  the  days  of 
superstition  have  gone  by,  and  the  age 
of  common  sense  has  come  and  must  be 
accepted." 

"  I  can't  say  that  I  like  this  glorifying 
of  common  sense,"  said  Benedict  with  a 
little  sigh  of  impatience.  "  I  think  there 
are  better  things  than  common  sense  in 
human  nature.  There  are  feelings  and 
sentiments  that  may  be  true,  as  well  as 
opinions  ;  there  is  a  spiritual  side  to  our 
nature  as  well  as  a  practical  side.  I  like 
the  expression  'horse  sense/  because  it 


78     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

sets  that  down  to  the  animal  category, 
in  the  sphere  of  oats  and  hay  and  other 
material  things,  where  it  belongs.  Spirit- 
ual faith  may  be  as  true  in  its  conclusions 
as  'horse  sense,'  and  I  think  it  is  infi- 
nitely higher." 

"  O,  yes ;  that  may  be,  but  they  deal 
with  different  orders  of  things  in  the  same 
great  universe  and  they  must  somehow 
be  consistent.  I  do  not  see  why  a  man 
who  looks  straight  out  of  his  eyes  with  a 
clear  vision  for  all  that  comes  within  his 
view  is  not  just  as  capable  of  lofty  senti- 
ment and  high  spiritual  conception  as  the 
one  that  insists  on  looking  through  dis- 
torted lenses  or  colored  glass.  I  take 
common  sense  as  simply  the  faculty  of 
seeing  and  judging  things  according  to 
what  knowledge  and  reason  dictate,  in- 
stead of  being  deluded  by  imagination 
and  controlled  by  fear  and  hope.  The 
great  intellect  of  the  time  is  not  different, 
except  in  degree,  from  the  ordinary  intelli- 
gence of  the  time.  It  reaches  farther  but 
in  the  same  direction,  and  wherever  it 
opens  the  way  the  other  eagerly  presses  in. 
Its  tension  is  that  way. 


RELIGION. 


79 


11  In  days  when  knowledge  was  scant 
and  the  means  of  knowledge  slight,  when 
reason  was  ill-armed  and  overborne,  when 
superstition  was  rampant  and  men's  pas- 
sions and  feelings  mightier  than  their 
minds,  religion  was  adapted  to  the  exist- 
ing conditions  and  had  to  be  or  die.  In 
a  time  of  wider  and  clearer  knowledge,  of 
universal  education  and  prevailing  com- 
mon sense,  if  you  will  excuse  the  term, 
religion  must  be  readjusted  or  lose  its 
vitality.  You  remember  the  chapter  in 
1  Notre  Dame  de  Paris,'  headed  *  Ceci 
tuera  cela,'  'this'  referring  to  the  print- 
ing press,  and  '  that '  to  the  Church.  The 
printing  press  has  killed  the  Church  of 
Louis  XL's  time,  and  will  kill  any  church 
that  is  based  on  superstition.  I  want  to 
see  the  Church  save  itself,  for  it  cannot  be 
spared.  I  want  to  see  it  a  power  for  the 
salvation  of  the  human  race  from  the  ten- 
dencies of  degeneration  and  for  its  eleva- 
tion and  improvement." 

"  Well,  what  would  you  have  it  do?" 
queried  Thomas,  the  believer.  "  What  is 
the  basis  of  your  new  reformation  ?  " 

"  I  would  have  it  discard  the  require- 


8O     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

ment  of  a  belief  in  the  miraculous  and  all 
which  that  implies  and  all  that  depends 
upon  it." 

Tom  looked  as  though  lightning  had 
struck  just  behind  his  chair,  and  the 
party  broke  up  more  quietly  than  usual, 
though  I  noticed  Colonel  Bloodgood  in- 
dulged in  a  deep  chuckle  that  made  his 
face  redder  and  his  eyes  bluer  than  ever. 


VI. 

THE  JUDGE  GETS  DIVERTED  TO  A  DIS- 
COURSE UPON  POLITICAL  IMMORAL- 
ITY. 

ONE  Saturday  I  met  my  friend  Bene- 
dict, as  I  did  frequently,  for  the  purpose  of 
going  to  the  Asphodel  with  him  for  the 
midnight  meeting.  For  the  first  time  he 
seemed  doubtful  about  going.  In  answer 
to  my  expression  of  surprise  he  said : 

"  These  religious  discussions  that  we 
have  been  drifting  into  are  not  altogether 
pleasant  to  me.  I  am  satisfied  with  such 
faith  as  I  have  and  strongly  attached  to 
my  religious  associations,  and  why  should 
I  have  them  disturbed  ?  " 

"Well,  well,"  I  replied,  "your  faith 
can't  be  very  strong  or  very  well  founded 
if  it  will  not  stand  discussion  between 
friends  ;  and  I  see  nothing  to  disturb  your 
associations,  unless  you  are  ready  to 
admit  that  they  are  based  upon  illusions 


82      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

or  delusions,  and  in  that  case  I  should 
think  you  would  be  glad  to  find  some 
better  foundation  for  them." 

"  Perhaps  it  would  prove  only  a  less 
comfortable  delusion  and  leave  a  fellow 
in  a  more  unstable  frame  of  mind,"  was 
the  reply.  "  I  am  no  reformer  and  have 
no  liking  for  breaking  things  up.  I  never 
knew  before  that  the  Judge  was  so  radical 
in  his  views.  I  knew  he  was  what  is 
called  *  liberal '  in  everything  and  that  he 
belonged  to  no  church,  but  he  has  always 
been  rather  reticent  on  religious  matters 
when  I  have  seen  him.  His  daughter  be- 
longs to  the  Episcopal  church,  I  think. 
At  least  she  goes  there  and  takes  part  in 
charitable  work,  and  he  often  goes  with 
her  and  contributes  quite  liberally  to  all 
causes  that  he  approves  of,  though  I 
know  he  draws  the  line  at  foreign  mis- 
sions and  maintains  that  we  have  enough 
to  do  nearer  home,  and  that  the  heathen 
most  in  need  of  our  help  are  at  our  own 
doors." 

"O,  well,"  said  I,  "the  Judge  is  all 
right.  He  is  not  seeking  to  disturb  any- 
body's faith,  but  only  wants  it  to  have  a 


POLITICAL  IMMORALITY.  83 

more  solid  basis.  However,  something 
else  may  come  up  to-night  which  you 
would  be  sorry  to  miss,"  and  so  Tom 
went  along  with  some  evident  reluc- 
tance. 

We  found  the  Judge  and  Colonel  Blood- 
good  seated  quietly  together,  and  appar- 
ently talking  politics  in  the  most  friendly 
manner.  Contrary  to  my  usual  custom 
of  non-intervention,  I  remarked  that  pol- 
itics was  rather  out  of  season  as  a  sub- 
ject of  discussion  or  even  of  conversa- 
tion. 

"  The  only  time  I  talk  politics  is  when 
it  is  out  of  season,"  remarked  the  Judge. 
"  People  are  so  unreasonable,  not  to  say 
irrational,  in  their  politics  that  it  some- 
times makes  me  doubt  whether  I  am  not 
premature  in  my  confidence  that  the 
time  has  come  for  the  rule  of  reason  in 
other  things.  Still,  I  do  not  give  up  my 
confidence  that  the  kingdom  of  common 
sense  is  at  hand." 

Tom  visibly  winced  at  this  and  seemed 
to  fear  the  direction  the  talk  might  take, 
and  I  felt  called  upon  to  violate  my  prin- 
ciple of  neutrality  and  silence  once  more 


84     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

by  asking  the  Judge  if  he  did  not  think 
that  the  verdict  of  the  people  was  gen- 
erally about  right  in  this  country. 

"  I  can't  say  that  I  think  it  is  always 
right,  by  any  means,  and  '  generally  about 
right '  does  not  mean  much.  You  see,  I 
do  not  consider  one  political  party  as 
altogether  right  and  the  other  alto- 
gether wrong,  or  even  that  the  two  are  so 
very  far  apart  in  the  matter  of  right  and 
wrong;  so  it  is  easy  to  say,  whichever 
way  the  election  goes,  the  decision  of  the 
people  is  'perhaps  about  right.'  If  it 
had  gone  the  other  way,  the  remark 
would  have  been  just  as  applicable — pos- 
sibly more  so.  I  have  an  abiding  confi- 
dence that  in  the  long  run  decisions  of 
the  people,  or  '  verdicts  *  of  the  people,  to 
accept  the  common  phrase,  will  be  on  the 
whole  nearer  right  than  decisions  by  any 
other  power  would  be,  and  that  it  is  safer 
to  trust  to  them.  The  people  will  give 
themselves  as  good  government  and  as 
sound  public  policy  as  they  are  ready  for, 
and  it  is  better  for  them  to  work  out 
their  problems  than  for  any  superior 
order  of  persons  to  impose  solutions  upon 


POLITICAL  IMMORALITY.  85 

them,  even  if  the  superior  order  were  ad- 
mitted to  exist  or  could  be  got  into  the 
position  of  governing  for  us.  I  certainly 
do  not  think  that  our  more  intelligent, 
better  educated,  and  wealthier  class  would 
give  us  better  government  or  any  sounder 
policy  if  the  political  power^were  exclu- 
sively in  their  hands.  On  the  contrary, 
the  great  mass  of  the  people — the  *  lower 
classes '  if  you  choose  to  call  them  so — 
being  possessed  of  political  power,  is  just 
what  saves  us  from  an  oppressive  dom- 
ination of  selfishness  and  greed. 

"  What  I  deplore  most  is  the  extreme 
party  spirit  that  seems  at  all  times  to 
be  latent  among  our  people,  and  which 
breaks  into  fierce  extremes  whenever 
there  is  political  excitement.  That  is 
when  people  seem  to  me  to  be  so  irra- 
tional that  I  take  no  satisfaction  in  talk- 
ing politics.  Most  partisans  are  grossly 
unfair  to  their  opponents  and  capable  of 
saying  the  meanest  things  about  them, 
unless  they  happen  to  know  them  per- 
sonally, when  they  may  admit  that  they 
are  decent  human  beings  in  everything 
but  their  political  views.  These  violent 


86     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

partisans — in  time  of  political  excitement 
they  are  deplorably  numerous — talk  and 
act  as  if  they  believed  one  half  of  the 
people  of  the  country  were  trying  to  ruin 
its  prosperity,  if  not  to  subvert  its  insti- 
tutions, whereas  one  half  is  exactly  as 
patriotic  as  the  other,  differing  only  in 
their  opinions  as  to  the  best  policy  for 
promoting  the  welfare  of  the  nation. 
Sometimes  even  this  difference  of  opinion 
is  almost  imaginary,  and  the  party  spirit 
springs  chiefly  from  the  contest  between 
two  organizations  for  control,  though  per- 
sons possessed  with  it  convince  themselves 
that  they  are  inspired  by  lofty  principles 
and  patriotic  purposes.  Really,  they  are 
simply  in  a  temper  of  '  fight '  for  the 
victory  of  their  side,  like  the  participants 
in  a  mighty  match  of  strength  and  skill. 
They  are  blinded  to  every  consideration 
but  that  of  party  success.  In  one  of  our 
violent  political  contests,  where  an  issue 
of  principle  is  actually  involved,  very 
few  persons  have  really  any  intelligent 
attachment  for  the  principle.  They  show 
in  their  talk  that  they  do  not  half  under- 
stand it,  and  many  of  those  who  do 


POLITICAL  IMMORALITY.  8/ 

understand  it  do  not  really  believe  in  it 
as  stated  and  contended  for  by  their 
party.  If  the  same  party  had  been  led 
to  declare  for  the  very  opposite  princi- 
ple these  rank  partisans  would  have 
shouted  just  as  loudly  in  support  of  its 
position  and  followed  its  leaders  just  as 
zealously. 

"  The  vital  questions  in  our  politics 
nowadays  are  merely  commercial  and 
industrial,  relating  to  material  well-being, 
and  the  concern  of  the  mass  of  the  peo- 
ple in  regard  to  them  is  precisely  the 
same  for  all ;  and  this  makes  intense  and 
intolerant  party  spirit  seem  more  inscru- 
table. Of  course,  memories  and  tradi- 
tions of  the  past  and  inherited  or  derived 
prejudices  have  much  to  do  with  it,  but 
there  seems  to  be  an  inherent  tendency 
in  human  nature  to  choose  sides  and  get 
up  a  fight.  Once  a  man  has  taken  his 
position,  the  cause  in  which  he  is  enlisted 
is  righteous  altogether  ;  the  Lord  of  Hosts 
is  on  its  side  and  the  salvation  of  man- 
kind depends  on  its  success.  It  is  fortu- 
nate that  there  are  some  sober  brains  in 
all  ranks,  which  refuse  to  be  upset  or 


88     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

carried  away  by  this  fiery  breeze  of  pas- 
sion. It  is  said  that  the  majority  rules  in 
this  country.  But  in  normal  conditions 
it  is  a  minority,  and  not  a  very  large  one 
either,  that  in  every  contest  tips  the 
scale  and  decides  which  party  shall  be 
trusted  with  power. 

"The  political  forces  are  in  reality  four, 
and  not  two.  There  are  the  two  parti- 
san masses  forever  pitted  against  each 
other  and  striving  for  the  mastery. 
Then  there  are  the  indifferent,  the  venal, 
the  scum  and  driftwood  of  politics  that 
can  be  gathered  in  by  one  side  or  the 
other  or  divided  between  them  by 
various  sordid  inducements.  Finally, 
there  are  the  thinking,  cool-headed  and 
conscientious  citizens,  who  refuse  to  see 
the  good  all  on  one  side  and  the  bad  all 
on  the  other ;  who  decline  to  take  their 
knowledge  from  stump  speakers  and 
their  principles  from  conventions  of  dele- 
gates most  of  whom  have  no  principles 
and  want  none ;  citizens  whose  object 
is  not  party  success  and  offices  for  one 
set  of  selfish  men  rather  than  another, 
but  the  adoption  of  sound  and  safe 


POLITICAL  IMMORALITY.  89 

methods  and  the  promotion  of  policies 
that  will  produce  real  benefits.  This  par- 
ticular '  element '  pervades  all  ranks, 
and  rarely  attempts  to  organize  itself. 
It  cannot  be  crushed  because  it  cannot 
be  hit.  It  cannot  be  bought  or  wheedled 
or  frightened  or  dragooned  to  one  side 
or  the  other.  Our  safety  is  in  this  ele- 
ment of  health,  this  antidote  for  virulent 
partisanship,  this  antagonist  of  the  cor- 
rupt and  venal  force. 

"  One  of  the  highest  evidences  of  the 
patriotic  foresight  of  Washington  is  his 
warning  to  the  country  on  the  subject  of 
party  spirit.  But  I  think  one  of  its 
worst  and  most  insidious  effects  could 
not  have  been  foreseen  by  him,  and  that 
is  its  production  of  immorality  in  politics. 
Men  condone  or  excuse  or  connive 
at  practices  in  politics  by  which  their 
own  party  gains  advantage,  which  in 
private  and  personal  affairs  they  would 
regard  as  infamous.  They  seem  to  look 
with  actual  complacency,  if  not  with 
positive  satisfaction,  upon  insincere  pro- 
fessions, false  pretences,  and  tricks  wor- 
thy of  sharpers.  Bribery  and  corruption 


QO      MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

do  not  startle  them,  if  it  is  their  own 
party  that  gains  by  it.  Trafficking  in  the 
suffrage  for  the  benefit  of  this  candi- 
date or  that  seems  to  be  justified  to  the 
seared  consciences  of  otherwise  decent 
men  by  the  fact  that  there  is  gain  in  it 
for  the  party  which  they  profess  to  be- 
lieve is  in  the  right.  It  is  rather  dis- 
couraging to  notice  how  little  sense  of 
real  shame  is  produced  by  the  exposure 
of  corrupt  practices  in  politics,  and  how 
vague  and  perfunctory  is  the  condem- 
nation of  them.  Men  engaged  in  them 
or  more  or  less  directly  responsible  for 
them  are  scarcely  put  out  of  countenance 
by  exposure,  arid  lose  no  caste  in  their 
party.  In  fact  there  is  a  disposition  to 
use  all  the  powerful  influences  of  the 
party  to  shield  them  from  any  other 
unpleasant  consequences  than  the  criti- 
cism of  their  opponents,  for  which  they 
care  little  because  it  comes  from  their 
opponents  and  does  not  represent  a  gen- 
eral sentiment  of  real  condemnation. 
Why,  men  who  prostitute  official  power, 
which  should  be  exercised  only  for  pub- 
lic ends,  to  promote  their  personal  or 


POLITICAL  IMMORALITY.  9 1 

partisan  designs  boldly  pose  as  patriots 
of  exceptional  virtue  and  nobody  laughs 
or  turns  away  in  disgust ;  men  who  use 
money  boldly  and  lavishly  to  buy  votes 
or  to  carry  elections  by  knavish  methods 
are  held  up  in  their  own  party  as  moral 
and  religious  teachers  of  great  merit 
instead  of  canting  hypocrites,  and  expect 
to  get  public  rewards  for* their  sacrifices 
and  expenditures,  not  in  behalf  of  the 
public  good,  but  of  party  success.  The 
pulpit  is  absolutely  silent  about  political 
abuses  and  corruption,  though  they  are 
about  the  most  demoralizing  evils  of  the 
day,  because  ministers  and  deacons,  and 
pillars  of  the  Church  are  as  much  be- 
sotted with  this  blind  party  spirit  as  any- 
body. 

"  The  whole  trouble  comes  from  this 
intense  party  spirit,  for  with  men  of 
fair  intelligence,  moderate  education,  and 
average  honesty  it  really  confounds  the 
public  good  with  party  success.  Most  of 
these  men  actually  believe,  in  the  excite- 
ment of  a  canvass,  that  the  welfare  of  the 
country  depends  upon  the  success  of 
their  party,  and  that  the  triumph  of  their 


92      M/DNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

opponents  would  bring,  if  not  the  ruin 
and  disaster  that  they  predict,  at  least 
serious  injuries  to  the  public  weal.  So 
they  countenance  lies  and  false  pre- 
tences, contemptible  tricks  and  devices 
for  influencing  ignorant  and  unreasoning 
voters,  even  the  corrupt  use  of  money 
and  of  public  trusts,  provided  they  be- 
lieve that  their  party  really  gains  by  such 
means.  Of  course  there  are  party  men 
who  deplore  these  things  and  would 
gladly  put  an  end  to  them,  and  there  are 
others  who  use  them  without  the  least 
scruple,  because  they  expect  personally 
to  gain  by  them  and  are  never  troubled 
by  qualms  of  conscience.  But  the  great 
body  of  partisans  without  whose  acqui- 
escence these  evils  could  not  exist,  are  so 
convinced  that  the  ascendency  of  their 
party  is  essential  to  the  well-being  of  the 
Republic  that  they  are  inclined,  if  not  to 
justify,  at  least  to  connive  at  any  means 
which  the  leaders  and  managers  find 
necessary  or  effective  for  its  maintenance. 
Their  moral  sensibilities  are  blunted  by 
party  spirit." 

"  But  don't  you  think,  Judge,  that  it 


POLITICAL  IMMORALITY.  93 

does  make  a  difference  what  party  is  in 
control?  "  asked  Benedict. 

"  Make  a  difference  ?  Certainly  it 
makes  a  difference,  and  there  have  been 
times  when  it  made  a  very  serious  differ- 
ence :  but  at  such  times  there  was  no 
need  of  these  evil  methods  and  corrupt 
practices ;  the  difference  itself  determined 
the  action  of  the  people.  But  there 
never  could  be  a  difference  that  would 
justify  the  discarding  of  moral  principle, 
throwing  common  honesty  and  decency 
overboard,  and  disregarding  all  standards 
of  right  and  wrong  in  human  conduct, 
and  in  these  days  the  difference  is  not 
such  a  very  serious  matter  anyway.  The 
Colonel  here,  who  is  an  old-fashioned 
Democrat,  though  always  a  patriot  to 
the  core,  will  probably  admit  that  noth- 
ing very  disastrous  will  come  from  the 
defeat  of  his  party  at  the  last  elec- 
tion." 

"  O,  I've  got  used  to  it,"  ejaculated 
the  Colonel ;  "  but  I  do  believe  that  even 
if  disaster  is  avoided  a  great  good  will  be 
postponed." 

"  And  you,  Tom,  I  suspect,"  resumed 


94       MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

the  Judge,  "  would  have  been  ready  to 
admit  that  no  serious  harm  had  been 
done,  if  the  Colonel's  party  had  staid  in 
power,  though  you  are  disposed  to  be- 
lieve that  all  political  wisdom  and  virtue 
is  on  the  other  side.  Well,  then,  what 
excuse  is  there  for  this  intense  party 
spirit  which  is  not  willing  to  be  restricted 
by  the  bonds  of  the  moral  standard  in- 
sisted upon  in  everything  but  politics? 
I  make  no  distinction  of  parties  in  this 
matter.  Aside  from  questions  of  imme- 
diate motives,  opportunities,  and  means, 
they  are  alike  in  the  use  of  unrighteous 
methods.  The  seat  of  the  evil  is  in  a 
debauched  public  sentiment  and  a  seared 
public  conscience,  and  party  spirit  is  the 
cause  of  both.  Political  immorality  is 
a  crying  evil,  and  one  that  menaces  free 
institutions  more  than  any  other,  if  not 
more  than  all  others.  It  exists  in  admin- 
istration, in  legislation,  in  party  manage- 
ment, and  in  popular  political  action. 
All  the  moral  and  religious  teachers  in 
pulpit  and  press  and  on  every  platform  of 
instruction  ought  to  be  stirred  up  against 
it" 


POLITICAL  IMMORALITY.  95 

"  Quite  a  Jeremiad,"  I  remarked  to 
Tom  as  we  set  out  homeward. 

"  Yes,  and  there  is  ground  enough  for  it, 
I  must  say.  The  Judge  is  sound  enough 
in  his  views  on  morality,"  was  the  reply 
in  tones  that  might  be  taken  as  implying 
that  there  was  some  question  about  the 
soundness  of  his  views  on  something  else, 
— theology  perhaps,  or  the  relative  merits 
of  political  parties. 


VII. 

SOME     FREE    DISCOURSE     ON     SUPERSTI- 
TION AND   WORSHIP. 

THE  next  Saturday  night  after  the 
Judge's  digression  into  politics,  on  saun- 
tering into  the  club  after  the  theatre  I 
was  surprised  to  find  Tom  Benedict 
already  on  hand,  as  if  eager  for  a  renewal 
of  the  disquieting  discussion  which  had 
been  interrupted,  and  which  I  felt  sure 
would  be  resumed. 

"  Hello  !  "  I  ejaculated,  "  I  hardly  ex- 
pected to  see  you  here  to-night.  I  sus- 
pect the  Judge  is  likely  to  get  back  to  the 
subject  which  seemed  to  rasp  your  ortho- 
dox sensibilities  a  couple  of  weeks  ago." 

"  O,  pshaw!"  was  the  astonishing 
reply ;  "  you  don't  suppose  I  am  so  weak 
in  the  faith  that  I  can't  stand  candid  dis- 
cussion !  In  fact,  I  have  been  getting 
anxious  to  hear  how  he  was  going  to 
justify  the  ground  he  took,  and  had  made 


SUPERSTITION  AND  WORSHIP.          97 

up  my  mind  to  bring  up  the  subject  my- 
self if  he  didn't." 

It  is  curious  how  minds  accustomed  to 
association  get  to  running  in  the  same 
track.  Without  any  special  reason  I  felt 
sure  that  our  mentor  would  return  to  the 
subject  that  he  opened  to  view  in  declar- 
ing that  the  Christian  Church  ought  to 
give  up  the  long-cherished  belief  in  mir- 
acles. It  was  too  startling  an  announce- 
'ment  to  be  left  in  the  air,  as  it  were.  It 
was  evident  that  Tom  also  had  antici- 
pated a  return  to  the  subject  and  had 
given  much  more  thought  to  it  than  I 
had.  His  apparent  aversion  seemed  to 
have  given  way  to  a  sort  of  anxiety  to 
have  it  out.  And  when  we  got  together 
in  our  inner  sanctum,  it  speedily  ap- 
peared that  the  Judge  had  divined  the 
state  of  mind  through  which  his  young 
friend  had  been  passing,  and  had  come 
with  a  full  purpose  to  justify  the  ground 
he  had  taken  for  the  relief,  if  possible,  of 
the  anxious  soul  of  the  devout  Thomas. 

When  we  were  settled  in  our  easy 
chairs  around  the  small  table  and  before 
Tom  had  any  occasion  to  carry  out  his 


98     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

resolve  to  bring  up  the  subject  himself, 
the  Judge,  with  a  benignant  glance  at 
him,  but  addressing  his  words  directly 
to  the  Colonel,  who  probably  had  not 
given  the  matter  a  thought,  said  rather 
abruptly: 

"There  is  nothing  I  deprecate  more 
than  mere  attacks  upon  the  faith  and  the 
religious  sensibilities  of  people.  There  is 
nothing  in  human  discussion  that  I  dis- 
like so  much  as  the  ranting  infidelity 
that  coarsely  and  bluntly  assails  the 
Christian  Church  and  the  records  of  re- 
ligious development,  and  attributes  to 
them  the  iniquities  in  human  history 
with  which  they  have  been  associated. 
Religious  sentiment  and  aspiration  is, 
after  all,  the  chief  thing  that  marks  the 
distinction  between  men  and  brutes.  It 
is  the  mightiest  means  by  which  men  are 
elevated  and  kept  up,  and  through  it 
the  progress  of  the  race  has  made  its 
way.  But,  like  everything  else,  it  is  a 
subject  of  development  and  adaptation 
to  conditions — of  an  orderly  evolution. 
Conceptions  of  the  Deity  change  from 
age  to  age,  and  no  matter  what  the 


SUPERSTITION  AND  WORSHIP.         99 

preachers  say,  ours  are  vastly  different 
from  those  of  Moses  and  the  prophets. 
Ideas  about  worship  change,  too,  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  knowledge  and  intel- 
lectual habits  of  the  time.  What  I 
complain  of  is  that  Christianity,  which, 
so  far  as  its  fundamental  principles  go, 
can  be  adapted  to  any  new  condition, 
should  be  so  bound  to  traditions  and 
the  conceptions  of  rude  ages,  and  should 
be  dragging  to  the  rearward  of  human 
progress  instead  of  helping  to  lead  it. 
For  the  result  is  that  it  loses  its  hold, 
not  only  upon  thinking  people,  but  upon 
the  mass,  which  instinctively  imbibes  the 
conclusions  of  modern  knowledge  and 
reason,  and  it  sacrifices  its  power  to  lead 
and  raise  mankind.  It  is  not  holding  the 
forces  of  society  in  restraint  and  giving 
them  effective  guidance,  as  it  might  be 
doing." 

"  But  do  you  think  religious  belief  and 
worship  and  all  that  sort  of  thing  neces- 
sary to  reasonable  beings  at  all  ? "  cyni- 
cally inquired  the  un-pious  and  non-relig- 
ious Colonel. 

"  Certainly    I    do,"    was    the    prompt 


IOO    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

answer.  "  There  may  be  a  question 
of  the  form  and  manner  of  belief  and 
worship,  but  I  cannot  conceive  of  a 
state  of  man  so  reasonable  that  he  would 
not  find  some  form  and  manner  a  neces- 
sity of  his  nature.  You  and  I,  Colonel, 
may  fancy  that  we  are  so  rational  that  we 
can  always  do  right  by  ourselves  and 
others  out  of  mere  prudence  and  good 
sense,  but  I  imagine  that  in  some  of  the 
vicissitudes  of  life  we  might  find  help  to- 
ward high  conduct  and  demeanor  in  the 
recognition  of  a  beneficent  Power  in  the 
universe  and  through  the  feelings  that 
find  expression  in  the  worship  of  such  a 
Power.  I  believe  a  morally  and  intellec- 
tually perfect  human  being  would  be  a 
very  devout  person,  as  the  mere  result  of 
perfection,  and  devotion  helps  imperfect 
people  to  become  better,  or,  at  the  very 
least,  to  resist  becoming  any  worse.  O, 
you  know  perfectly  well  that,  taking  the 
whole  community  together,  the  praying, 
church-going  people  are  morally  and 
socially  the  'better  element.'  What  I 
want  is  to  see  a  prevailing  religious  teach- 
ing and  worship  that  recognizes  all  that 


SUPERSTITION  AND  WORSHIP.        IOI 

science  teaches  and  all  that  reason  dic- 
tates, and  can  consequently  resume  the 
leadership  of  the  human  race,  which  the 
Church  of  to-day  has  substantially  lost. 

"  But  all  this  is  mere  rambling.  My 
great  point  is  that  absolutely  all  belief  in 
what  is  called  *  miraculous '  should  be 
given  up.  Then  the  rest  would  follow ; 
for  that  involves  much." 

"  But,"  interposed  Tom  in  almost 
breathless  agitation,  "  surely  religion 
assumes  the  supernatural  and  depends 
upon  it.  You  wouldn't  give  that  up?" 

"  Well,  that  depends  on  what  you  call 
'  supernatural.'  Natural  is  extensive 
enough  for  me.  The  God  of  the  uni- 
verse must  be  the  most  natural  of  all 
things,  the  essence  of  which  all  nature 
is  the  embodiment — nature,  terrestrial 
and  celestial.  Nature  that  is  seen  and 
can  be  studied  must  of  necessity  be  con- 
sistent with  that  which  is  unseen  and  can 
only  be  vaguely  comprehended,  but  com- 
prehended the  more  clearly  as  we  under- 
stand better  the  revelation  that  comes 
within  our  mental  range.  I  take  the  world 
and  man  to  be  our  only  real  revelation. 


102    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

Stick  to  '  supernatural '  as  a  word  of 
distinction  if  you  will,  but  get  rid  of 
superstition.  The  world  is  outgrowing 
it.  Religion  used  to  be  full  of  it  because 
the  world  was  full  of  it,  and  nearly  all 
men's  minds  were  subject  to  it.  Now, 
knowledge  and  reason  and  prevailing 
common  sense  are  driving  it  out,  and 
religion  must  give  it  up  or  be  laughed  at ; 
and  when  the  augurs  cannot  meet  with- 
out laughing  their  system  is  doomed.  It 
must  be  given  up  because  reason  demands 
it ;  and  it  may  be  given  up  because  re- 
ligion does  not  need  it. 

"  I  cannot  see  why  we  should  not  re- 
gard reports  of  miracles  two  thousand 
years  ago  or  four  thousand  years  ago 
just  as  we  regard  them  now,  or  why 
reported  miracles  in  one  country  and 
among  one  ancient  people  should  not  be 
treated  just  as  they  are  when  they  ap- 
pear in  the  records  of  some  other  country 
or  people.  I  do  not  believe  that  the  law 
and  order  of  nature  have  changed  since 
human  records  began,  or  that  the  Su- 
preme Power  of  the  universe  has  under- 
gone a  revolution  in  methods  in  the  brief 


SUPERSTITION  AND  WORSHIP.        103 

space  of  six  thousand  years,  more  or  less. 
Why  should  I  accept  miraculous  tales 
about  Abraham  or  Moses  or  Joshua  or 
Jonah,  because  they  are  found  in  Hebrew 
records,  when  I  reject  precisely  analogous 
ones  with  which  other  ancient  records 
are  filled,  merely  because  there  is  a  sort 
of  lineal  descent  of  the  religion  we  have 
inherited  from  that  which  finds  its  ex- 
position and  embodiment  in  Hebrew 
literature?  That  is  not  reason  enough 
for  me.  The  Buddhist  and  the  Moham- 
medan have  a  precisely  analogous  reason 
for  believing  in  the  miracles  of  their  re- 
ligions ;  so  had  the  civilized  pagans  of 
Greece  and  Rome  and  Persia  and  Egypt, 
but  we  do  not  admit  the  sufficiency  of 
the  reason  in  their  cases.  « 

"  Superstition  has  not  wholly  fled 
from  the  earth  yet.  There  are  people  in 
Africa  and  the  South  Sea  Islands  who  are 
behind  the  Israelites  and  Egyptians  of 
Moses's  day,  and  they  are  still  having 
miracles.  Even  in  civilized  countries  and 
right  among  ourselves  we  hear  of  mirac- 
ulous and  supernatural  things  every  now 
and  then,  but  we  do  not  believe  in  them, 


104    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

and  those  who  do  are  regarded  as  either 
particularly  ignorant  or  as  fanatical  and 
deluded.  There  is  plenty  of  literature 
nowadays  containing  accounts  of  mir- 
acles, but  it  finds  little  acceptance.  The 
records  of  the  Middle  Ages  are  full  of 
accounts  of  such  marvels  in  and  out  of 
the  Christian  Church,  because  that  was  a 
time  of  ignorance  and  superstition.  They 
were  readily  accepted  and  the  stories 
became  easily  current  without  conscious 
fraud.  How  many  fictitious  tales  go 
about  even  now  relating  to  mere  ordinary 
affairs  and  are  accepted  as  true?  Mira- 
cles and  supernatural  doings  are  the  com- 
mon-places of  ancient  records,  even  of 
some  that  have  the  soberest  historical 
purpose.  Greek  and  Roman  literature  is 
stuffed  with  them  and  Oriental  literatures 
are  largely  made  up  of  them.  It  was 
hardly  possible  for  any  great  event  to 
happen  or  any  great  character  to  figure  in 
the  world  two  thousand  years  ago  or 
more,  or  even  one  thousand  years  ago, 
without  giving  rise  to  accounts  of  miracu- 
lous occurrences  which  were  generally 
believed. 


SUPERSTITION  AND  WORSHIP.      105 

"  Now,  I  should  like  to  know  why  we 
are  to  cast  away  all  other  miracles  and 
supernatural  happenings  as  unworthy  of 
belief  and  cling  to  those  that  appear  in 
the  records  of  the  ancient  Hebrews — 
some  of  them  religious  and  some  not — 
and  in  the  early  records  of  Christianity. 
The  same  critical  processes  apply  to  all 
ancient  records,  and  have  been  applied, 
and  they  produce  the  same  results  as  to 
.what  is  credible  and  incredible  in  their 
contents.  Whatever  plea  is  put  in  as  to 
a  special  sanction  for  certain  of  these  rec- 
ords, the  obstinate  fact  remains  that  the 
progress  of  human  knowledge  and  human 
reason  has  broken  the  hold  of  a  belief  in 
miracles  on  the  minds  of  intelligent  men 
and  even  of  those  not  so  very  intelligent, 
and  they  cannot  be  guided  and  controlled 
through  any  such  belief.  Something 
more  potent  and  consistent  with  the 
hard  common  sense  that  prevails  must 
take  its  place.  I  do  not  believe  that 
common  sense  and  the  truest  spiritual 
sense  are  or  can  be  antagonistic. 

"  The  Roman  Catholic  Church  is  more 
consistent  in  this  matter  than  the  Protes- 


IO6    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

tant  churches.  It  is  based  avowedly  on 
superstition,  though  it  would  not  accept 
that  as  the  right  word,  and  there  may  be 
enough  of  superstition  in  the  world  to 
sustain  the  fabric  for  a  long  time  yet. 
Tlie  Catholic  priesthood  maintains  that 
miracles  and  special  divine  revelations  do 
occur  now,  as  they  always  have  occurred  ; 
but  it  has  the  prudence  not  to  counte- 
nance a  study  of  the  *  sacred  '  records  by 
the  laity,  and  it  is  generally  admitted, 
except  by  itself,  to  be  opposed  to  the 
progress  of  knowledge  and  of  ideas.  But 
there  is  not  superstition  enough  left  for 
the  Catholic  Church  and  a  lot  of  Protes- 
tant denominations,  too.  The  differences 
among  the  latter  all  have  their  root  in  the 
superstitions  of  the  past,  for  when  men 
believe  in  things  that  will  not  bear  the 
test  of  knowledge  and  reason  they  begin 
at  once  to  differ  and  divide,  because  there 
is  no  common  standard  of  judgment. 
The  superstitious  and  unreasoning  are  ca- 
pable of  believing  anything,  and  the  di- 
rection their  faith  will  take  all  depends 
on  the  idiosyncrasies  of  some  powerful 
teacher  or  leader  among  them.  Don't 


_      SUPERSTITION  AND  WORSHIP.       IO/ 

you  suppose  that  the  Buddhists  and  the 
Mohammedans  are  just  as  earnest  and 
just  as  thoroughly  convinced  that  theirs 
is  the  only  true  religion,  as  ever  the 
devotees  of  a  Christian  sect  were  ? 

"  I  denounce  no  man's  religion,  either 
of  the  present  or  the  past.  It  may  be 
the  best  of  which  he  is  capable  and  better 
for  him  than  none.  The  religion  of  a 
man  will  partake  of  his  character,  that  of 
,a  people  will  be  shaped  by  its  character, 
that  of  a  time  will  be  determined  by  the 
prevailing  spirit.  But  the  world  has  been 
advancing  rapidly  in  the  last  fifty  years, 
and  the  Church  has  not  kept  up.  It  is 
anchored  to  the  past,  loaded  with  tra- 
ditions, water-logged  with  superstition. 
What  is  the  result?  Some  emotional, 
earnest  believers,  largely  women  and 
young  persons ;  many  half-believers,  in- 
cluding a  large  part  of  the  clergy;  more 
who  acquiesce  and  conform,  as  the  best 
thing  to  do  in  the  interest  of  good  behav- 
ior ;  and  a  vast  and  increasing  crowd  out- 
side the  pale  altogether.  Some  of  these 
latter  are  good  enough  and  safe  enough  as 
citizens  and  members  of  the  community, 


IO8    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

but  there  are  in  the  mass  elements  of  dan- 
ger. When  the  great  body  of  unenlight- 
ened men  cease  to  be  held  to  a  belief  in  a 
higher  Power  and  a  higher  Judgment, 
you  cannot  guide  them  by  mere  counsels 
of  worldly  prudence  and  philosophy. 
Immediate  self-interest  and  all  manner 
of  passions  will  carry  them  beyond 
bounds.  The  problem  of  self-govern- 
ment threatens  to  work  into  insoluble 
intricacies. 

"  I  regard  a  restoration  of  the  restraint 
and  elevating  influence  of  Christianity 
over  society  as  necessary  to  the  uplifting 
of  mankind  from  their  low  condition,  the 
salvation  of  free  institutions  and  the  sys- 
tem of  popular  government ;  and  I  regard 
as  necessary  to  that  restoration  a  casting 
out  of  inherited  superstitions  and  the  ac- 
ceptance of  the  rule  of  reason,  the  adop- 
tion of  every  valid  conclusion  of  science 
and  rational  criticism,  the  readjustment 
of  the  Church  to  the  lines  of  modern  prog- 
ress in  knowledge  and  thought,  and  a 
return  to  the  original  Christian  princi- 
ples of  mutual  consideration  and  help- 
fulness rather  than  a  continuance  in  the 


SUPERSTITION  AND  WORSHIP.       109 

selfishness    and    greed   of   modern    soci- 
ety. 

"  I  am  confident  that  this  would  conflict 
with  nothing  essential  in  the  fundament- 
al teachings  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth,  and 
would  not  interfere  with  a  rational  worship 
and  devotion,  appealing  to  the  sentiments 
and  feelings  of  humanity  in  reverence  for 
the  Deity.  Nay,  more,  I  believe  it  thor- 
oughly in  harmony  with  the  Divine 
fatherhood,  the  human  brotherhood, 
which  Jesus  Christ  proclaimed  as  the  true 
ideal.  I  anticipate  nothing  permanent 
from  '  new  religions '  got  up  by  societies 
or  liberal  sects,  however  much  nearer  the 
truth  they  may  be  in  some  points  than 
the  historic  Church.  The  Church  is  his- 
toric, the  growth  of  time,  the  result  of 
human  development.  It  cannot  be  dis- 
placed but  it  may  be  reformed,  as  from 
time  to  time  it  has  been  ;  and  now  it 
needs  reformation  as  never  before.  But 
the  reform  should  come  from  within.  To 
me  personally  it  does  not  matter;  I  can 
maintain  a  belief  alone  and  shape  my 
course  unaided  by  association.  But  so- 
ciety needs  a  great  organization  for  the 


I  10    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

restraint,  inspiration,  elevation,  and  guid- 
ance of  its  members ;  one  which  has 
vitality  and  vigor  in  it,  which  can  com- 
mand the  service  of  the  best  minds  and 
the  most  zealous  natures,  and  that  can 
reach  and  regenerate  the  wandering  flocks 
that  have  no  shepherds. 

"  It  is  a  sad  state  of  things  when  the 
ablest  teachers  of  the  prevailing  religion 
doubt  their  own  doctrines,  and  no  longer 
preach  them  with  conviction  ;  when  ear- 
nest believers  are  confined  mainly  to 
women  and  exceptionally  emotional  men  ; 
when  sober  citizens  belong  to  the  church 
because  it  is  highly  respectable,  a  good 
thing  for  their  families  and  perhaps  prof- 
itable for  business  and  advantageous  in 
social  life,  and  not  because  they  believe 
in  its  dogmas  or  have  a  vital  interest 
in  the  real  business  of  regenerating  the 
race.  Even  the  word  '  dogma '  has  come 
to  have  rather  an  offensive  sound,  and 
doctrinal  preaching  is  deprecated.  Why  ? 
Because  there  is  an  unavowed  recogni- 
tion that  the  dogmas  and  doctrines  are 
not  such  as  to  commend  themselves  any 
longer  to  the  acceptance  of  reasonable 


SUPERSTITION  AND   WORSHIP.       I  I  I 

beings.  They  are  calculated  to  repel  and 
not  to  win. 

"  I  say,  Discard  the  belief  in  miracles, 
not  because  you  and  I  cannot  believe  in 
them,  not  simply  because  historical  inves- 
tigation and  scientific  criticism  discredit 
them,  but  because  the  civilization  with 
which  we  have  to  deal  has  outgrown  be- 
lief in  them,  and  you  cannot  re-establish 
it.  Doctrines  based  upon  faith  in  them 
are  no  longer  potent  to  restrain  and  guide 
men.  If  the  Christian  religion  is  to  dom- 
inate the  civilization  of  this  and  the  com- 
ing generation,  it  must  accept  their 
intellectual  conclusions,  and  base  its  sys- 
tem of  faith  upon  these,  or  at  least  throw 
out  what  is  irreconcilable  with  them.  It 
is  because  I  appreciate  the  great  need  of 
the  power  and  influence  of  some  religion, 
*  pure  and  undefined/  to  counteract  the 
material  and  selfish  tendencies  that  are 
always  working  for  degradation,  that  I 
care  about  this. 

"  I  used  to  say,  Let  every  man  believe 
or  pretend  to  believe  what  he  pleases,  and 
let  the  Church  pursue  its  own  way,  so 
long  as  I  am  at  liberty  to  cherish  my  own 


I  12     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

ideas  and  regulate  my  own  conduct ;  but 
in  all  these  recent  discussions  of  labor 
troubles,  political  abuses,  and  social 
evils,  it  has  seemed  to  me  that  the  old 
foundations  of  the  Moral  Standard  were 
broken  up,  and  that  it  is  in  danger  of 
being  engulfed  in  confusion  and  lost 
sight  of.  A  religious  reformation  is  the 
great  need  of  the  time,  and  I  am  looking 
for  a  new  Luther  to  be  its  herald." 


"  Well,  are  you  satisfied  ?  "  I  asked  of 
Tom  as  we  wandered  forth  perhaps  a 
little  dazed. 

"  No,  I  am  only  confused,"  was  the 
quiet  reply,  and  Tom  had  no  further 
word  to  say  that  night  on  any  subject. 
He  seemed  to  be  thinking,  all  to  him- 
self. 


VIII. 

THE     JUDGE     OBJECTS     TO     MAKING     A 
FETICH    OF   THE   SCRIPTURES. 

TOM  had  evidently  been  turning  the 
matter  over  and  trying  to  get  out  of  the 
confusion  of  mind  in  which  the  Judge's 
last  talk  had  left  him.  He  seemed  to 
feel  that  the  discussion  ought  not  to  go 
on  in  this  one-sided  way,  and  though  he 
had  no  great  confidence  in  his  own 
forensic  powers,  he  had  made  up  his 
mind  that  he  would  at  least  make  a  state- 
ment from  his  point  of  view.  So  when 
the  Owls  got  together  again,  he  made 
bold  to  express  himself  in  the  terms 
following,  having  apparently  laid  it  all 
out  in  his  mind,  but  finding  it  somewhat 
difficult  to  give  full  expression  to  his 
ideas: 

"  My  dear  Judge,  I  just  want  to  state 
how  I  look  at  the  matter  we  were  talking 
about,  or  rather  that  you  were  talking 


114  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

about,  a  week  ago.  You  admit  the 
necessity  of  some  system  of  religious 
faith  and  the  benefit  of  some  form  of 
worship.  You  must  therefore  accept  the 
fundamental  idea  of  a  Creator  of  the 
universe  having  a  direct  relation  to  the 
human  race  and  of  a  motive  and  sanction 
for  conduct  aside  from  mere  worldly 
prudence.  You  must  admit  some  destiny 
for  human  beings  beyond  the  struggle  for 
a  tolerable  existence  here.  Otherwise 
you  cannot  expect  to  replace,  unless  for 
the  fortunate  and  philosophic  few,  mere 
selfish  motives,  looking  to  immediate 
satisfaction,  with  anything  higher.  Now, 
admitting  any  kind  of  dependence  on  a 
higher  Power  and  a  beneficent  purpose 
on  the  part  of  that  higher  Power  toward 
the  human  race,  what  is  there  unreason- 
able in  supposing  that  the  Almighty 
should  work  out  a  revelation  of  his  will 
and  purpose  through  human  history,  and 
why  should  not  the  record  of  that  revela- 
tion be  regarded  as  divine?  In  certain 
stages  of  human  development  what  we 
call '  miracles '  may  have  been  necessary  to 
impress  the  minds  of  men  with  belief  in 


THE  SCRIPTURE  FETICH.  I  I  5 

the  higher  Power,  and  I  see  no  reason 
why  they  may  not  have  been  used.  It 
seems  to  me  that  there  has  run  through 
history  in  ancient  Judaism  and  in  Chris- 
tianity a  current  of  divine  revelation,  and 
I  cannot  see  why  we  should  not  regard 
the  writings  which  contain  a  record  of  it 
as  sacred,  and  in  a  certain  sense  in- 
spired." 

"  Well,"  said  the  Judge,  complacently, 
"  the  trouble  with  that  theory  is  that  it 
is  not  broad  enough,  and  it  will  not  stand 
the  tests  which  conscientious  students 
must  apply  to  all  past  records,  if  they 
wish  to  understand  them  rightly.  I  do 
not  believe  in  making  a  fetich  of  any 
writings  whatever,  or  cramping  the  mind 
to  fit  any  easy  or  comfortable  explanation 
of  things.  I  would  set  no  limits  to  the 
efforts  of  the  human  mind  to  find  out 
and  to  understand.  I  have  no  objection 
to  a  providential  theory  that  will  include 
the  whole  scheme  of  human  history  and 
its  records.  Here  is  the  universe  to-day, 
and  here  is  man  with  his  capacities  and 
possibilities,  and  the  history  of  his  prog- 
ress, and  all  we  know  or  can  know 


Il6  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

about  a  higher  Power  is  derived  from  a 
study  of  these  and  from  our  inner  con- 
sciousness. But  to  my  mind  that  is 
enough. 

"  I  take  the  God  of  the  universe,  what- 
ever human  conception  of  him  may  be, 
as  actually  'the  same  yesterday,  to-day, 
and  forever,'  and  the  laws  of  development 
and  progress  under  his  stimulus  and  guid- 
ance to  be  unchanged  and  unchangeable. 
I  object  to  taking  the  local  deity  of  an 
ancient  nomadic  tribe  as  anything  but 
possibly  the  highest  conception  of  divin- 
ity existing  at  that  time.  If  this  deity 
differs  little  from  those  of  other  tribes  at 
first,  being  supposed  to  reveal  Himself  in 
fire  and  cloud  and  storm,  delighting  in 
bloody  sacrifices,  subject  to  fierce  out- 
breaks of  anger  and  vengeance  and  fits  of 
repentance  and  mercy,  why  should  I  re- 
gard it  as  the  actual  beginning  of  a  God  in 
which,  in  this  day  of  enlightenment,  I  am 
to  believe  ?  God  has  not  grown  up  with 
the  human  race  ;  but  the  human  concep- 
tions of  deity  have.  If  a  great  leader  of 
Israel  raised  the  tribal  conception  of 
deity  which  he  found  among  his  people 


THE  SCRIPTURE  FETICH.  \  I J 

to  that  of  an  unseen  Ruler  of  a  nation 
who  was  to  make  it  great  and  prosperous, 
and  derived  from  it  laws,  and  statutes  for 
the  government  of  the  people,  used  it 
to  inspire  patriotism  and  confidence,  ele- 
vated its  worship  and  purged  it  of  the 
grossness  of  the  earlier  conception,  what 
am  I  to  see  in  that  but  evidence  of  prog- 
ress in  that  race  and  of  the  genius  of  its 
first  great  leader? 

"  The  God  of  Israel,  to  whose  alleged 
commands  authority  is  still  attached, 
does  not  correspond  to  your  conception 
of  the  Deity  or  mine,  whatever  you  may 
try  to  think  about  it.  With  the  ancient 
Hebrews,  from  the  birth  of  their  nation 
religion  and  politics  were  one,  and  wor- 
ship was  patriotism.  Hence  their  gen- 
ius, their  statesmanship,  and  their  philos- 
ophy were  religious,  and  their  teachers 
and  prophets  gradually  developed  and 
broadened  the  conception  of  the  Deity, 
elevated  his  attributes,  purified  his 
worship,  and  extended  his  sway  finally 
to  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  at  the 
head  of  which  Israel  was  to  stand.  Is  this 
God  gradually  growing  and  developing, 


Il8  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

or  even  gradually  revealing  himself,  or  is 
it  a  gradually  developing  conception  of 
God,  which  is  not  finished  yet  ?  Have 
not  others  besides  Hebrews  contributed 
to  lofty  conceptions  of  the  Divine  Being 
in  ancient  times,  and  have  not  modern  sci- 
ence, knowledge,  and  thought  contrib- 
uted more  than  all  the  ancients  to  a  true 
idea  of  Deity?  Make  your  '  Divine  Prov- 
idence' cover  all  peoples,  all  times,  all  the 
teachings  of  the  past  and  present,  and  I 
do  not  object  to  your  name  for  it.  Ex- 
tend your  '  revelation '  to  all  human  expe- 
rience and  thought,  and  you  may  call  it 
divine  if  you  will.  Accept  all  the  wisdom 
of  the  ages  as  profitable  for  teaching,  and 
you  may  say  it  is  inspired  for  aught  I  care. 
And  as  for  your  sacred  Scriptures,  let 
their  sacredness  be  determined  by  their 
character  and  usefulness  to  men  and  not 
by  the  canon  of  the  priests  of  ages 
ago. 

"  It  seems  to  me  peculiarly  absurd  to 
keep  up  a  superstitious  reverence  for 
that  valuable  and  interesting  and  in 
many  respects  really  noble  and  sublime 
collection  of  Hebrew  literature  known  as 


THE  SCRIPTURE  FETICH.  I  19 

the  Old  Testament.  How  many  really 
do  preserve  the  traditional  reverence  for 
it,  notwithstanding  the  pretence  of  the 
Church?  Is  it  generally  talked  about 
and  referred  to  now  outside  of  the  church 
doors  wjth  any  particular  reverence  ? 
How  many  people  are  shocked  by  jocose 
references  to  the  Jonah  story  or  the  tale 
about  Daniel  in  the  lion's  den  or  the  cir- 
cumstances of  Adam's  fall  ?  Few  even 
of  devout  people  read,  for  their  own  de- 
votion and  edification,  any  but  the  ethi- 
cal and  poetical  books,  and  those  only 
in  detachments  and  separate  chapters, 
and  there  is  not  one  in  a  thousand  of 
moderately-educated  people  who  have  a 
systematic  knowledge  of  the  contents  of 
the  whole  collection.  A  clergyman  who 
would  read  the  volume  through  in  course 
before  an  intelligent  congregation  would 
upset  half  his  creed  before  he  got 
through.  A  prudent  orthodox  divine 
would  not  dare  try  the  experiment. 
Why,  there  is  not  a  more  thoroughly 
human  collection  of  ancient  literature 
in  existence,  if  you  read  it  with  your 
eyes  open  and  your  mind  free  from  prej- 


J2O  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

udice.  It  is  mainly  the  attribution  to 
Jehovah  of  every  law  and  regulation,  every 
plan  and  purpose  of  ruler  and  teacher, 
every  appeal,  threat  and  promise  of  re- 
former and  prophet,  that  has  imposed  its 
authority  so  long.  But  that  attribution 
was  natural  to  the  circumstances,  after 
Moses  established  the  theocratic  idea 
and  identified  pride  of  race  and  national 
patriotism  with  worship  of  Jehovah. 

"  The  writings  of  the  really  learned 
orthodox  critics  are  very  diverting  to  me, 
and  quite  as  much  calculated  to  impress 
the  purely  human  character  of  the  Jew- 
ish literature  upon  the  mind  as  are  the 
efforts  of  their  free-thinking  opponents, 
and  it  is  curious  that  they  are  able  to 
reconcile  their  own  conclusions  with  the 
exclusive  theory  of  Divine  inspiration  to 
which  they  cling.  All  searching  criticism 
only  confirms  the  common-sense  view 
which  an  unbiased  mind  would  naturally 
take  if  you  could  imagine  it  to  come  to 
the  study  of  the  Old  Testament  without 
preconceptions.  I  had  what  I  consider 
the  enormous  advantage  of  escaping  all 
religious  teaching  as  a  child  and  a  youth, 


THE  SCRIPTURE  FETICH.  I  2  I 

though  I  had  plenty  of  moral  instruction, 
and  I  have  been  studying  religion  more 
or  less  in  recent  years  as  I  would  study 
any  other  phase  of  human  development, — 
politics  for- instance. 

"  It  is  generally  admitted  now  that 
what  are  called  the  books  of  Mpses  were 
largely  made  up  ages  after  Moses's  day, 
chiefly  about  the  time  of  the  restoration 
from  Babylonian  exile,  out  of  old  docu- 
ments of  various  origin  pieced  out  with 
traditions  and  fragments,  and  with  origi- 
nal interpolations  by  the  collators.  It 
was  rather  clumsily  done,  too,  the  order 
of  events  being  sometimes  inverted  or 
disjointed  and  inconsistent  accounts  be- 
ing patched  together  with  little  effort 
at  harmony.  It  showed  more  candor 
than  skill,  for  your  Jewish  scribe  did  not 
seek  literary  finish  or  regard  the  rights  of 
different  authors.  Aside  from  its  evi- 
dently mythological  character  the  account 
of  the  creation  and  the  destruction  of  the 
human  race  by  a  great  flood  consists  of 
a  patchwork  of  two  quite  different  leg- 
ends, and  its  naive  assumption  of  the  ex- 
istence of  other  people  than  the  Adam 


122   MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB, 

family  in  the  world  at  the  start  and  of 
others  than  Noah's  descendants  after  the 
Deluge  is  not  to  be  swept  aside  as  some- 
thing that  should  not  be  questioned. 
The  laborious  efforts  to  explain  these 
things,  to  reconcile  them  with  science, 
and  all  that,  are  laughable.  They  need 
no  explanation,  and  have  nothing  to  do 
with  science.  They  are  natural  enough  as 
one  of  the  many  rude  attempts  of  ancient 
peoples  just  beginning  to  study  and  to 
write,  to  account  for  the  origin  of  things. 
The  world  and  the  human  race  were  to 
be  accounted  for,  then  the  Hebrew  race 
and  the  Jewish  nation.  There  were  anal- 
ogous efforts  and  similar  records  among 
other  ancient  peoples.  All  such  records 
are  full  of  legends  and  marvels,  and 
those  of  the  Jews  are  rather  excep- 
tional in  the  lack  of  imagination  and  a 
poetic  spirit ;  but  why  sacred  or  inspired  ? 
Neither  is  there  anything  strange  in  the 
tales  of  signs  and  wonders  in  connection 
with  the  bringing  of  the  Israelites  out  of 
Egypt  and  establishing  them  in  Canaan 
when  we  consider  that  the  account  was 
made  up  from  imperfect  records  and 


THE  SCRIPTURE  FETICH.  12$ 

from  legends  and  traditions  long  after  the 
event,  and  is  known  in  many  respects  to 
be  historically  inaccurate.  How  much  of 
the  so-called  laws  of  Moses  originated 
with  that  great  lawgiver  no  man  can  find 
out,  but  it  is  known  that  the  collection 
in  both  its  varying  versions  was  put 
together  and  published  centuries  after  his 
time.  Of  course  there  were  interpola- 
tions and  additions,  and  accumulations. 
Otherwise,  we  must  suppose  there  was  no 
progress  in  priestly  legislation  in  the  long 
intervals  of  the  monarchy  to  the  reforma* 
tion  of  Josiah.  O,  the  whole  thing  and 
the  process  of  its  accumulation  and  put- 
ting in  form  is  so  very  human,  so  analo- 
gous to  what  was  done  elsewhere  in  the 
world,  that  the  old  theories  and  notions 
about  it  are  utterly  untenable  to  any  one 
who  studies  and  thinks,  or  even  reads  the 
record  itself,  in  the  light  of  modern 
knowledge.  It  is  simply  astonishing  that 
ink  should  still  be  wasted  in  defence  of 
the  fetichism  or  that  peculiar  notion  of 
*  divine  inspiration  '  which  would  authen- 
ticate these  records  as  infallibly  correct. 
"  What  is  true  of  the  Mosaic  books  is 


124    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

also  true  of  the  historical  annals  that  fol- 
low. They  were  made  up  in  the  form  in 
which  we  have  them  long  after  the  events 
and  from  various  materials.  They  con- 
tain crudities  and  inconsistencies,  inver- 
sions and  derangements,  injections  and 
excrescences,  such  as  it  would  be  natural 
to  expect,  considering  the  lack  of  literary 
workmanship  on  the  part  of  the  scribes 
of  those  days.  There  are  some  rather 
curious  legends  and  tales  withal,  but 
what  is  Samson  compared  to  Hercules 
and  Theseus,  or  Saul's  experience  with 
the  Witch  of  Endor  and  the  ghost  of 
Samuel  by  the  side  of  many  ancient  ora- 
cles and  Sibylline  revelations  ?  Why 
deny  to  those  old  Jews  the  right  which 
all  other  peoples  have  exercised  to  ac- 
count for  things  and  to  illustrate  their  be- 
lief in  the  supernatural  by  the  use  of  the 
imagination  ? 

"  I  read  the  Old  Testament  a  good 
deal,  and  much  of  it  is  mighty  good  read- 
ing. It  contains  a  wonderful  record  of 
the  development  of  a  remarkable  people 
and  the  growth  in  the  world  of  religious 
ideas  some  of  which  must  still  be  ac- 


THE  SCRIPTURE  FETICH.  125 

cepted  as  fundamental.  But,  then,  the 
laws  of  Moses  contain  many  barbarisms 
and  comparatively  little  of  permanent 
value.  The  moral  and  social  standard 
of  the  Jews  was  not  high  on  the  whole, 
even  in  precepts  attributed  to  Jehovah  ; 
their  conception  of  God  was  Oriental  and 
one-sided,  at  first  monstrous,  then  des- 
potic, and  their  forms  of  worship  were 
gross,  but  doubtless  fitted  to  the  condi- 
tion of  their  people.  They  had  no  notion 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  or  of  other 
sanctions  for  conduct  than  worldly  well- 
being.  All  the  threats  of  punishment 
and  promises  of  reward  related  to  this 
life.  Possibly  Moses,  who,  being  edu- 
cated as  an  Egyptian  prince  and  priest, 
was  of  course  familiar  with  the  idea  of 
immortality,  purposely  kept  it  out  of 
view  in  order  to  bring  to  bear  direct  ma- 
terial motives  on  the  gross  minds  of  his  de- 
graded and  slavish  people  ;  perhaps  he 
did  it  to  have  no  Egyptian  associations 
in  their  simple  theocracy.  Higher  con- 
ceptions they  derived  from  other  Eastern 
races  after  their  own  '  Divine  revelation  ' 
was  completed.  What  good  can  come 


126  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

from  continuing  to  call  that  collection  of 
their  literature  which  has  been  kept  to- 
gether so  long  and  translated  into  so 
many  languages  under  the  name,  Old 
Testament,  the  inspired  word  of  God  or 
even  sacred  Scriptures  ?  What  sense  is 
there  in  making  a  fetich  of  it  ? 

"  You  might  say,  what  harm  does  it  do 
if  the  delusion  operates  as  a  restraint  and 
helps  to  keep  human  beings  upon  their 
good  behavior?  My  answer  is  that  it  is 
ceasing  to  have  that  effect,  because  peo- 
ple are  ceasing  to  believe  in  the  old  view, 
and  the  Church  by  maintaining  it  is 
losing  its  hold  upon  honest  convictions. 
I  detest  all  hypocrisy  and  false  pretence 
and  all  deliberate  use  of  delusion  to  con- 
trol people's  conduct.  I  am  persuaded 
that  ministers  and  a  large  majority  of 
adult  male  church  members  have  no  be- 
lief in  the  old  doctrine  of  Divine  Revela- 
tion and  the  inspiration  of  the  Scriptures 
in  the  exclusive  sense  in  which  those 
phrases  have  been  applied  to  the  He- 
brews. Why  keep  up  the  pretence? 
The  rising  generation  will  not  be  imposed 
upon  by  it ;  the  godless  crowd  cannot  be 


THE  SCRIPTURE  FETICH.  12  J 

won  by  it ;  and  more  and  more  earnest, 
thinking,  and  educated  people  will  be 
repelled  from  the  service  of  the  Church. 

"  Why,  it  is  the  clinging  to  '  creeds  out- 
worn '  and  doctrines  decayed  that  makes 
the  religion  of  Christianity  open  to  at- 
tacks that  cannot  be  successfully  repelled, 
and  it  is  melancholy  to  see  great  audi- 
ences paying  to  be  entertained  and 
amused  by  such  attacks.  Colonel  Inger- 
soll  talks  about  the  *  mistakes  of  Moses  ' 
in  matters  of  science  and  social  regula- 
tion, and  people  laugh.  But,  pray,  why 
should  not  Moses,  or  those  who  wrote 
about  him  make  mistakes  in  the  infancy 
of  civilization,  and  what  has  it  to  do  with 
anything  vital  to  Christian  faith  to-day  ? 
Let  go  the  notion  that  this  old  record  is 
the  Word  of  God  and  therefore  necessa- 
rily infallible,  and  such  attacks  fall  harm- 
less. When  Ingersoll  says  that  the  He- 
brew God  of  the  Moses  and  Joshua  era 
was,  according  to  modern  ideas,  a  mon- 
ster in  some  of  his  aspects,  in  his  wrath 
and  jealousy  and  vengeance ;  in  his  de- 
light in  bloody  sacrifices  ;  in  his  sanction 
of  slavery  and  polygamy  and  concubin- 


128   MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

age,  and  of  atrocities  in  war,  he  says  what 
is  indisputably  true,  and  all  attempts  to 
answer  him  are  impotent.  But  admit 
that  this  was  only  the  crude  human  con- 
ception of  a  deity,  reflecting  the  charac- 
ter of  the  people  believing  in  Him,  and 
that  these  barbarisms  belonged  to  the 
time  and  the  people,  and  such  onslaughts 
are  harmless.  It  is  not  safe  to  stick  to 
indefensible  ground,  and  that  is  the 
trouble  with  the  orthodox  disputants  in 
these  controversies.  The  attacks  are 
telling,  and  doing  harm,  and  it  would  be 
an  immense  gain  for  mankind  if  the 
Christian  Church  would  only  take  a  new 
position,  accepting  all  the  results  of 
learning  and  reason  as  parts  of  its  very 
foundation.  Then  it  could  bring  to  its 
service  the  best  intellect,  the  soundest 
moral  conviction,  and  the  most  zealous 
activity,  extend  its  organization  and  do 
the  work  of  regenerating  mankind,  which 
is  needed  as  much  now  as  ever,  but 
which  needs  to  be  carried  on  by  new 
methods." 


When    this   discourse   ended,   Colonel 


THE  SCRIPTURE  FETICH.  1 29 

Bloodgood  drew  a  long  breath,  as  if  re- 
lieved of  a  tiresome  subject,  and  lighted 
a  fresh  cigar.  "O  well/'  he  grunted, 
"  what's  the  use  ?  Let's  get  out  into  the 
air.  I  feel  as  though  I  had  been  listen- 
ing to  a  sermon." 

Tom  seemed  bewildered  again  and 
somewhat  depressed,  and  hurried  away. 
I  remained  alone  a  while,  comfortably 
cogitating  and  wondering  at  the  various 
ways  in  which  human  brains  are  occupy- 
ing themselves  nowadays. 


IX. 


SWITCHED    OFF    TO    THE     QUESTION  OF 
IRISH-AMERICANS. 

"  NOW,  I  tell  you,  Judge,"  the  Colonel 
was  saying  as  I  entered  the  midnight 
conclave,  "all  this  palaver  of  yours 
about  what  the  Church  and  church  peo- 
ple, ought  to  do  is  of  no  earthly  use.  You 
have  your  own  views  of  society  and 
morals  and  religion,  and  I  have  mine, 
and,  thank  goodness,  the  time  has  gone 
by  when  anybody  can  interfere  with 
them  or  prevent  our  expressing  them, 
and  why  should  we  worry  ourselves  about 
the  beliefs  or  the  ways  of  doing  things 
of  people  who  are  more  pious  than  we 
are  ?  They  may  be  narrow  and  bigoted 
and  short-sighted  and  all  the  rest  of  it, 
but  it  doesn't  hurt  us,  and  we  can't  help 
it.  I  have  no  sort  of  faith  in  your  new 
reformation  and  putting  Christianity  on 
a  basis  of  modern  thought.  Things  will 


THE  IRISH-AMERICANS.  1 3  I 

drift  along,  and  the  evils  and  abuses 
which  you  think  the  Church  ought  to 
tackle,  whatever  they  are,  will  probably 
get  worse  until  society  in  self-defence 
will  organize  into  associations  for  ethical 
culture  or  moral  improvement,  and  this, 
that,  and  the  other  thing  to  teach  peo- 
ple what  their  own  self-interest  requires. 
Meantime,  the  Church  will  stick  to  the 
miraculous  and  the  supernatural,  and 
work  upon  the  remnants  of  supersti- 
tion and  drag  more  and  more  behind 
the  age.  Anyhow,  you  and  I  won't 
live  to  see  any  material  change  in  its 
attitude.  Let's  talk  about  something 
else." 

"All  right,  Colonel,"  replied  the  Judge, 
with  a  cheery  laugh,  "  I  am  not  trying  to 
head  a  moral  and  religious  revolution,  but 
only  give  my  personal  views  on  such  mat- 
ters as  come  up.  I  doubt  if  any  one  man 
can  greatly  hurry  up  the  evolution  of 
the  human  race  or  if  any  institution  can 
do  much  to  hinder  it.  Certainly  private 
conversation  in  the  recesses  of  the  As- 
phodel will  not  have  much  effect  upon 
it  one  way  or  another.  Start  your  own 


132  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

topic,  for  you  must  have  something  on 
your  mind." 

"  Well,  I  want  to  ask  the  assembled 
company  a  question,  a  sort  of  national 
conundrum.  What,  in  your  opinion,  is 
the  greatest  calamity  that  ever  befell  this 
country?  " 

The  assembled  company  was  not  in  a 
mood  for  answering  conundrums,  but 
Mr.  Benedict  ventured  the  opinion  that 
the  African  slave-trade  in  which  our  en- 
terprising fathers  indulged  might  be  con- 
sidered quite  a  calamity  and  the  source 
of  greater  calamities  ;  but  that  did  not 
lead  up  to  the  Colonel's  train  of  thought, 
and  he  repudiated  it  as  an  answer  to 
the  question. 

"  I  have  no  fancy  for  going  into  blind 
pools  or  answering  blind  questions," 
quoth  the  Judge;  "and  as  you  evidently 
put  the  question  because  you  have  an 
answer  for  it  yourself,  out  with  it.  As 
the  middleman  at  the  minstrels  would 
say,  What  is  the  greatest  calamity  that 
ever  befell  this  country  ?  " 

"  The  potato  rot  in  Ireland." 

"Well,"  said  the  innocent  and  short- 


THE  IRISH-AMERICANS.  133 

seeing  Tom,  "  I  should  say  that  that  was 
a  great  calamity  for  Ireland,  but  how  was 
it  a  calamity  for  this  country  ?  " 

"  On  the  contrary,  it  was  a  compara- 
tive blessing  to  Ireland  and  for  Irishmen; 
but  for  this  country  I  consider  it  an 
awful  calamity  in  starting  that  tide  of 
emigration  that  has  played  the  devil  with 
us  ever  since.  Why,  it  sent  into  this 
country  about  the  most  undesirable,  the 
most  mischievous,  the  most  damnable 
element  of  population  that  could  have 
been  scraped  out  of  the  corners  of  the 
earth,  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  pub- 
lic evils  that  we  have  to  contend  against 
are  due  to  this  infernal  Irish  element." 

"  Oh,  come  now,"  replied  the  Judge, 
deprecatingly,  "you  are  addicted  to  ex- 
aggeration, and  you  put  it  too  strongly." 

"Not  a  bit,  not  a  bit!  Look  at  the 
criminal  records  and  notice  the  propor- 
tion of  Irish  names  among  those  who  are 
guilty  of  crimes  of  violence  and  disorder. 
If  there  is  a  row  on  the  street  there  is 
pretty  sure  to  be  an  Irishman  at  the  bot- 
tom of  it.  Who  constitute  the  'gangs' 
that  infest  certain  quarters  of  the  city  and 


134  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

terrorize  the  neighborhood  ?  Irishmen 
every  time.  If  a  picnic  or  social  gather- 
ing degenerates  into  a  drunken  fight  it  al- 
ways appears  that  the  rowdy  element  that 
does  the  mischief  is  Irish.  Talk  about 
the  evils  of  the  liquor  traffic  !  Who  keep 
the  worst  and  most  disorderly  saloons  ? 
Who  violate  and  evade  the  laws  and  show 
a  contemptuous  disrespect  for  public 
authority  in  the  matter?  Your  McGlorys 
and  Geoghegans  and  Flanagans  and  Shar- 
keys  and  others  of  their  ilk,  with  mighty 
few  exceptions.  They  seem  to  take  to 
whiskey-selling  and  politics  as  ducks  take 
to  water,  and  this  Irish  mixing  of  whis- 
key and  politics  is  accountable  for  much 
of  the  degeneration  in  both.  Take  the 
labor  question  and  the  conduct  of  labor 
organizations.  The  noisy,  blatant,  push- 
ing  Irishmen,  full  of  ignorance,  preju- 
dice and  passion,  and  devoid  of  sense, 
intellectual  or  moral,  are  what  set  the 
business  astray.  It  is  they  that  bring  in 
boycotting,  violence,  and  unjust  methods, 
which  do  harm  to  both  sides  and  good  to 
neither.  It  is  the  Irishmen  among  work- 
ingmen  that  are  all  the  time  setting  up 


THE  IRISH-AMERICANS.  135 

labor  parties  and  using  the  right  of 
suffrage  as  a  bludgeon  to  intimidate 
people  who  know  better  into  doing  fool- 
ish things.  They  bedevil  the  prison 
labor  question  and  a  thousand  other 
questions  through  the  labor  vote  and 
the  Irish  vote,  which  the  politicians 
dread  because  it  may  turn  the  party 
scale  any  time,  without  regard  to  sense 
or  reason. 

"  It  is  because  the  Irish  vote  is  not 
guided  by  principle  or  conviction  or 
patriotism  or  sense  of  right,  or  anything 
else  but  Irish  prejudice  and  recklessness, 
that  it  is  so  formidable  and  demoralizing. 
It  plays  the  very  devil  with  politicians 
and  public  men,  who  are  afraid  of  its 
rushing  to  one  side  or  the  other  and 
upsetting  their  calculations,  simply  be- 
cause it  cannot  be  enlightened  or  rea- 
soned with,  but  is  liable  to  be  swayed 
by  all  manner  of  appeals  to  prejudice  and 
passion.  How  utterly  impotent  and 
absurd  that  whole  Murchison-Sackville 
business  would  have  been  if  there  had 
been  no  Irish  in  this  country,  or  if  the 
Irish  were  people  of  sense  !  It  is  their 


136  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

disregard  of  reason  and  lack  of  sense  of 
moral  responsibility,  their  disrespect  for 
public  authority  and  the  necessary  re- 
straints of  law,  that  have  caused  most  of 
the  evils  of  public  administration,  es- 
pecially in  cities.  They  push  into  the 
retail  liquor  business  and  ward  politics, 
take  possession  of  primary  meetings  and 
get  into  office,  and  what  is  the  conse- 
quence? They  have  no  scruple  about 
buying  or  selling  votes  or  public  privi- 
leges or  legislation,  and  they  are  sure  to 
use  any  position  they  can  get  for  their 
own  benefit  and  that  of  their  friends, 
without  regard  to  public  rights  or  public 
interests.  There  are  other  rascals  in  pol- 
itics and  in  office,  but  the  Irish  have  led 
the  way,  established  evil  practices,  and 
become  so  much  of  a  force  that  the 
others  are  emboldened,  and  men  of  de- 
cent instincts  are  overwhelmed  or  driven 
out.  The  old  Tweed  business  would 
have  been  impossible  but  for  the  Irish 
power  and  influence  in  New  York  poli- 
tics. So  would  '  boodle  '  aldermen  and  the 
infamous  buying  and  selling  of  franchises 
and  of  legislation.  It  is  the  Irish  de- 


THE  IRISH-AMERICANS.  137 

pravity  and  cussedness,  with  its  reckless 
push  and  grab,  that  has  been  the  main 
factor  in  demoralizing  politics,  municipal 
administration,  State  legislation  and  the 
whole  business. 

"  Another  thing.  Who  brought  the 
Catholic  Church  into  this  country  and  set 
up  its  influence  against  the  very  spirit 
of  our  institutions  ?  The  Irish.  The  at- 
tacks upon  the  public-school  system  come 
from  them  and  their  priests.  They  are 
responsible  for  diverting  public  funds 
from  public  purposes  to  the  support  of 
private  sectarian  institutions.  The  Cath- 
olic Church  would  undermine  the  very 
principles  of  our  Government  if  it  could, 
and  its  power  is  altogether  out  of  propor- 
tion to  the  number  of  its  adherents  on 
account  of  its  aggressive  and  insidious 
methods  and  its  control  over  that  Irish 
vote  of  which  I  was  speaking. 

"  Besides,  when  great  questions  of 
national  policy  are  to  be  settled,  involv- 
ing the  welfare  of  the  country  and  its 
people,  how  do  the  Irish  act  in  politics? 
Do  they  study,  and  try  to  understand 
the  questions  at  issue,  and  act  upon  rea- 


138  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

son  and  conviction  with  reference  to  the 
interests  of  the  United  States,  or  are 
they  swayed  by  what  some  party  conven- 
tion or  some  prominent  politician  may 
have  said  about  Ireland  or  the  Irish  cause 
on  the  other  side  of  the  ocean  ?  Is  love 
of  America  and  her  institutions  and  de- 
votion to  her  welfare  more  potent  than 
hatred  of  Great  Britain,  even  when 
nothing  that  concerns  either  Ireland  or 
Great  Britain  is  in  any  way  involved  ? 
That  peaceful  and  profitable  relations 
with  Great  Britain  are  our  best  policy  is 
plain  enough  to  any  man  of  sense,  and 
nobody  would  think  of  seeking  or  risking 
any  other,  unless  forced  to  it  by  most 
potent  reasons,  but  for  the  pernicious 
influence  of  the  cursed  Irish.  Bah !  No 
calamity  ever  befell  this  country  to  be 
compared  with  that  which  set  the  flow  of 
Irish  immigration  to  our  shores,  and  our 
strongest  ground  of  resentment  against 
Great  Britain  is  the  policy  that  reduced 
the  Irish  to  the  necessity  of  emigrat- 
ing." 

"Well,   well,"    ejaculated    the  Judge, 
when    Colonel    Bloodgood    stopped    for 


THE  IRISH-AMERICANS.  139 

breath.  "  Got  through  with  your  tirade 
against  your  fellow-citizens  of  Irish  ex- 
traction? " 

"  I  don't  know  whether  I  have  or  not. 
There  are  probably  a  lot  of  counts  in  the 
indictment  that  I  have  forgotten  to  men- 
tion, but  perhaps  I  have  made  my  reason 
clear  for  deploring  that  potato  rot." 

"  O,  but,"  quickly  replied  the  Judge, 
"  I  imagine  this  immigration  would  have 
come  if  that  particular  event  had  not 
occurred,  though  not  with  such  a  sudden 
rush  at  the  start.  There  are  other  causes 
back  of  that,  causes  that  made  the  fail- 
ure of  one  particular  crop  produce  a 
famine  in  a  country  naturally  capable  of 
providing  for  a  much  larger  population. 
There  is  some  basis  of  truth  for  your 
sweeping  assertions,  of  course  ;  but  they 
do  no  sort  of  justice  to  the  Irish.  I  do 
not  believe  their  coming  here  will  prove 
to  be  a  national  calamity  to  the  country 
in  the  end.  I  consider  them  very  good 
raw  material  for  citizens  ;  rather  too  raw, 
perhaps,  and  introduced  too  suddenly 
and  rapidly  for  the  immediate  good  of 
the  body  politic,  but  destined  in  the 


140  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

long  run  to  furnish  a  very  excellent  and 
useful  strain  to  our  conglomerate  popu- 
lation. 

"  You  must  consider  why  the  Irish 
exhibit  some  unpleasant  characteristics. 
Aside  from  the  fact  that  they  are  an 
impulsive  race,  rather  apt  to  feel  more 
strongly  than  they  think,  the  experience 
of  generations  has  had  a  great  effect  upon 
them  as  a  people,  and  their  experience 
has  been  altogether  exceptional.  You 
speak  of  their  disrespect  for  public 
authority  and  their  disregard  for  law. 
Well,  for  generations  they  have  had  a 
foreign  authority  imposed  upon  them 
which  has  had  very  little  regard  for  their 
rights  and  interests,  and  they  have  hated 
and  resisted  it,  not  without  reason.  They 
have  been  accustomed  to  have  laws  made 
for  them,  with  very  little  voice  of  their 
own  in  the  matter,  and  these  laws  have  sac- 
rificed them  and  their  substance  for  the 
profit  or  benefit  of  others,  and  so  they  have 
come  to  regard  it  as  a  merit  to  evade  the 
laws  and  fight  against  those  set  to  en- 
force them.  Consider  the  confiscation  of 
their  lands  ;  the  establishment  of  alien 


THE  IRISH-AMERICANS.  141 

ownership  ;  the  system  of  landlordism, 
absenteeism,  the  extraction  of  the  wealth 
of  the  soil  to  be  carried  off  and  spent 
elsewhere,  and  the  impoverishment  of  its 
occupants ;  the  crushing  of  Irish  indus- 
tries, one  after  another,  in  the  interest  of 
English  trade,  and  the  destruction  of  the 
possibilities  of  commerce  in  Ireland  it- 
self by  a  cruel  and  selfish  policy.  All 
this  has  produced  at  once  poverty  and 
ignorance,  for  education  comes  only 
through  some  degree  of  freedom  and 
prosperity.  The  unjust  oppressions  and 
repressions  only  intensified  attachment  to 
the  Catholic  Church,  which  became  the 
only  friendly  power  the  people  could 
look  up  to.  What  reason  have  these 
people  had  for  attachment  to  civil 
authority,  respect  for  laws,  and  devotion 
to  the  interests  of  the  Government?" 

"  But  I  am  not  talking  about  the  Irish 
in  Ireland,"  answered  the  Colonel.  "I 
will  admit  all  you  please  about  the 
wrongs  they  have  suffered  and  the  rea- 
sons they  have  at  home  for  hating  Eng- 
land. But  when  they  come  over  here 
and  become  citizens  why  should  they 


142   MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

bring  their  Irish  cause  and  their  anti- 
British  feeling  into  our  affairs,  and  main- 
tain an  attitude  toward  authority  and 
legal  restraint  here  that  they  have  no  rea- 
son for?" 

"  Because  you  cannot  expect  a  people 
to  be  transformed  all  at  once  by  a  change 
of  skies.  I  do  not  count  it  against  them 
by  any  means  that  they  retain  their  keen 
attachment  for  their  native  land  and 
their  kindred,  and  feel  an  intense  sympa- 
thy for  the  cause  which  they  leave  behind 
without  meaning  to  turn  their  backs  upon 
it.  I  do  not  wonder  in  the  least  that 
they  cherish  their  hatred  of  England  and 
their  love  and  devotion  for  their  Church 
and  their  priests.  As  to  their  failure  to 
respect  authority  and  law  and  to  appre- 
ciate the  demands  of  government  here, 
the  habits  and  tendencies  produced  by 
generations  of  experience  will  not  change 
suddenly  under  new  conditions.  Their 
lack  of  education  and  discipline  cannot 
be  supplied  all  at  once  ;  the  results  of  a 
total  inexperience  in  self-government  and 
in  the  regulation  and  management  of 
affairs  cannot  be  overcome  in  a  few  years' 


THE  IRISH-AMERICANS.  143 

time,  and  the  attitude  of  mind  and  feel- 
ing produced  by  oppression  and  wrong 
will  persist  in  spite  of  everything.  That 
the  mass  of  Irish  in  this  country  have  not 
the  right  appreciation  of  the  duties  and 
responsibilities  of  citizenship,  a  sound 
feeling  in  regard  to  the  submission  due  to 
public  authority  and  the  respect  due  to 
law,  or  an  enlightened  capacity  for  the 
tasks  of  citizens  in  legislation  and  admin- 
istration, is  not  at  all  strange,  and  cannot 
be  regarded  as  *  inexcusable/  " 

"  That's  all  right  enough,"  exclaimed 
the  Colonel,  "  if  they  only  had  a  decent 
modesty  and  would  let  things  alone  until 
they  learn  something.  But  they  seem  to 
think  that  they  can  run  things  and  that 
they  have  a  right  to  run  them,  and  they 
push  in,  to  the  disgust  of  their  betters, 
and  make  a  mess  of  it.  They  want  to 
make  laws  and  administer  them  and  vio- 
late them  all  at  once." 

"Well,"  replied  the  imperturbable 
Judge,  "  perhaps  the  fact  that  they  have 
so  long  been  deprived  of  the  powers  and 
rights  of  citizens  and  have  been  striving 
so  hard  to  get  a  chance  to  use  them  may 


144   MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

account  for  the  eagerness  with  which 
they  plunge  into  political  activity  and 
the  ardor  with  which  they  seek  opportu- 
nities for  doing  something  in  the  way  of 
government.  Of  course,  so  long  as  they 
are  badly  equipped  by  education,  train- 
ing, and  experience,  and  have  no  clear 
standard  of  action  worthy  of  the  citizens 
of  a  free  country,  the  practical  result  is 
in  many  ways  bad.  But  the  qualities 
they  display  have  their  good  side.  Their 
strong  attachment  to  their  own  land  and 
race  may  in  time  be  transferred  to  their 
adopted  country  and  converted  into  a 
deep  and  wholesome  patriotism.  Their 
eagerness  and  activity  in  politics  and 
public  affairs  are  not  bad  things  in  them- 
selves. If  people  of  native  blood  and 
of  long  American  descent  had  more  of 
that  disposition  and  did  some  of  the 
pushing  it  would  be  better  for  them.  A 
willingness  to  do  public  work  needs  only 
to  be  united  with  capacity  and  high 
motives  to  become  a  salutary  force,  and 
this  Irish  peculiarity  of  seeking  a  chance 
to  share  in  making  and  administering  the 
laws  would  not  be  mischievous  if  prop- 


THE  IRISH-AMERICANS.  145 

erly  inspired  and  guided,  as  it  may  be  in 
time. 

"  We  must  look  on  the  favorable  as 
well  as  the  unfavorable  side  of  the  Irish- 
man as  a  possible  American,  and  consider 
what  he  may  become  under  the  influ- 
ence of  education  and  political  experi- 
ence. While  you  find  fault  with  the 
Irish  character,  you  have  probably  known 
of  individual  cases  in  which  it  is  revealed 
in  an  exceptional  attachment,  fidelity,  and 
trustworthiness.  We  know  there  have 
been  Irish  patriots,  statesmen,  orators, 
judges,  equal  to  the  best.  With  our  bad 
specimens  in  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  the 
Legislature,  and  elsewhere  we  have  still 
found  even  here  and  in  these  days  some 
of  our  ablest  and  most  upright  public 
men  among  those  of  Irish  birth  or  de- 
scent. It  shows  what  they  are  capable 
of  and  what  they  may  come  to  as  a  fac- 
tor in  our  citizenship.  Let  their  love  of 
liberty,  their  strong  attachment  to  race 
and  country,  their  ardor  for  public  activ- 
ity, and  even  their  fidelity  to  their 
Church  be  gradually  pervaded  by  a  truer 
enlightenment  and  toned  up  to  a  higher 


146    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

level  of  real  conscientiousness — converted 
into  genuine  American  patriotism — as 
the  best  tendencies  and  developments  of 
the  race  show  that  they  may  be,  and  the 
Irish  will  become  a  valuable  element  in 
our  population.  We  need  an  infusion  of 
their  traits,  and  when  they  really  get 
infused  into  the  national  blood  they  will 
have  a  good  effect. 

"  I  tell  you  it  is  the  combination  of 
races  and  characteristics  that  is  to  make 
the  American  character  great  and  solid  in 
the  future.  The  English  current  as  modi- 
fied by  the  soil  is  deep  and  strong,  and 
will  be  the  solvent,  but  it  will  be  improved 
by  the  Irish  ardor  and  self-assertion,  the 
German  sturdiness  and  liberality,  the 
French  lightness  and  keenness,  and  nil 
the  other  moral  and  intellectual  ingredi- 
ents of  nationality,  when  they  become 
blended,  as  they  will  in  time.  You  can- 
not make  a  new  people  in  a  generation, 
and  we  who  are  in  the  seething  that  the 
first  mingling  of  elements  produces  are 
disturbed  by  the  commotion  ;  but  the 
combination  will  be  effected  in  time,  the 
effervescence  will  subside,  and  the  com- 


THE  IRISH-AMERICANS.  147 

pound  will  be  wholesome.  The  strong 
Irish  element  has  been  poured  in  some- 
what suddenly  and  rapidly,  and  it  has 
some  of  the  qualities  of  quick-lime,  but  it 
will  furnish  one  of  the  best  ingredients 
after  all.  The  process  of  assimilation 
will  go  on  with  increasing  rapidity  as  the 
first  crudity  of  the  elements  is  overcome 
and  the  streams  of  raw  material  diminish 
in  volume,  relatively  to  the  whole  mass 
at  least,  and  we  shall  emerge  safely  from 
the  incidental  turmoil  of  the  operation  of 
compounding  a  people." 

"  O  well,  I  suppose  so,"  responded  the 
Colonel,  with  something  like  a  groan. 
"You  are  always  looking  away  back  or 
away  ahead  and  finding  comfort  in  the 
long  run.  But  I  am  obliged  to  do  my 
living  just  about  now,  and  I  would  like 
to  feel  that  something  is  finished  and  set- 
tled down,  and  to  have  things  done 
decently  and  in  order  while  I  have  some 
concern  with  them.  I  can't  reconcile 
myself  to  nuisances  because  there  are 
forces  at  work  that  will  abate  them  after 
I  am  dead  and  gone;  and  to  my  mind 


148    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

just  here  and  now  the  Irish  in  America 
are  an  infernal  nuisance." 


With  this  vigorous  assertion  of  his 
original  opinion  the  Colonel  arose  and 
led  the  way  to  a  break-up  of  the  party, 
a  thing  he  does  only  when  unusually 
excited. 


X. 


THE    JUDGE    GETS  BACK  TO   MOSES  AND 
THE  PROPHETS. 

TOM  BENEDICT  seems  to  have  got  into 
a  very  uneasy  state  of  mind  lately. 

For  my  part,  I  like  to  hear  the  Judge 
talk,  but  am  quite  indifferent  as  to  the 
subject  of  his  discourse.  I  have  no  fond- 
ness at  all  for  theological  or  religious 
discussion,  and  was  always  rather  bored 
by  it  until  I  fell  into  the  company  of  the 
Asphodel  "  Owls."  The  Colonel  makes 
no  concealment  of  his  aversion  to  that 
kind  of  talk,  and  the  Judge  evidently  has 
no  preference  for  it.  He  rarely  starts  a 
subject  himself,  and  can  talk  on  one 
thing  as  well  as  another,  and  he  seems  to 
be  about  equally  interested  in  all  kinds 
of  human  topics. 

At  first  Tom  was  disturbed  by  the  free 
and  easy  discussion  of  religious  ques- 
tions, and  seemed  to  be  disposed  to  avoid 


150    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

it.  Then  his  mind  appeared  to  get 
started  on  a  novel  line  of  thought — novel 
to  him,  though  one  would  think  it  rather 
hackneyed  by  this  time — and  he  became 
anxious  to  have  the  Judge  go  farther  in 
the  direction  that  had  at  first  alarmed 
him.  The  Colonel  had  introduced  that 
Irish  conundrum  of  his  for  the  purpose  of 
getting  clear  of  a  field  of  discussion  that 
was  distasteful  to  him,  and  anticipated 
that  it  might  be  dropped  and  something 
fresh  brought  up  at  each  sitting.  The 
Judge  showed  no  inclination  to  bring  the 
old  matter  up  again.  But  Tom,  as  I  say, 
had  been  put  into  an  uneasy  frame  of 
mind,  and  evidently  could  not  get  out  of 
his  head  the  questions  that  had  been 
raised.  Neither  was  he  satisfied  with 
the  way  in  which  they  were  left.  He  of 
the  settled  faith  and  confident  convic- 
tions, to  whom  a  questioning  of  the  basis 
of  traditional  beliefs  had  been  rather 
shocking  than  otherwise,  was  the  one  now 
to  revert  to  the  disquieting  subject,  as  the 
dazzled  moth  is  impelled  to  return  to  the 
light  that  is  perilous  to  its  fluttering  life. 
Conversation  had  been  drifting  among 


MOSES  AND  THE  P2WPHETS.        l^l 

desultory  preliminaries  and  had  settled 
down  to  nothing  definite  at  the  next 
convocation  after  the  Irish  discussion, 
when  Tom,  who  had  appeared  to  be 
under  some  uncommon  constraint,  finally 
broke  out : 

"Judge  Truman" — I  believe  I  have 
not  let  the  Judge's  name  out  before  ;  but 
no  matter,  let  it  stand,  he  isn't  ashamed 
of  it — "Judge  Truman,  I  am  not  satis- 
fied with  the  way  the  great  subject  of 
Divine  revelation  has  been  left  in  our 
previous  talks.  I  understood  you  to  say 
that  you  had  no  objection  to  such 
phrases  as  Divine  revelation  and  Divine 
Providence  if  their  application  was 
broad  enough,  and  yet  you  do  not  accept 
the  Scriptures  as  sacred  in  any  special 
sense,  or  the  record  which  they  contain 
as  a  revelation  of  God's  providence  any 
more  than  any  other  human  record.  I 
don't  think  I  have  a  clear  idea  of  your 
position,  and  if  it  is  not  tiresome  to  the 
others,  I  should  like  to  hear  a  further 
explanation." 

The  Colonel  uttered  a  half-contempt- 
uous grunt,  rolled  his  cigar  about  under 


152    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

his  white  mustache,  and  gave  it  a  new 
grip  with  his  teeth,  but  made  no  objec- 
tion, and  I  readily  acquiesced,  and  so  the 
Judge  opened  his  discourse  in  his  quiet, 
off-hand  way. 

"It  really  seems  rather  queer  to  me," 
he  began,  "  that  in  the  light  of  the  knowl- 
edge and  thought  of  the  day,  accessible 
to  everybody  that  can  read  and  has  ears 
to  hear,  these  should  be  regarded  as  open 
questions  at  all,  rather  than  accepted 
commonplaces;  and  the  queerest  thing  of 
all  is  that  it  should  cause  distress  of  mind 
to  intelligent  and  educated  people  to 
accept  the  conclusions  of  reason  in  place 
of  the  traditions  of  the  Church  :  but  I 
suppose  I  am  unable  to  make  sufficient 
allowance  for  the  force  of  teachings  that 
have  come  down  from  generation  to  gen- 
eration in  families,  where  they  begin 
early  with  the  feelings  and  sentiments 
and  get  little  hold  on  the  intellect. 

"  What  you  call  my  position  is  not 
mine  particularly.  It  is  simply  the  posi- 
tion that  any  rational  mind  is  impelled  to 
hold  if  it  gets  rid  of  prejudices  and  does 
its  own  thinking  in  the  light  of  this 


MOSES  AND  THE  PROPHETS.        153 

present  year  of  grace  as  it  shines  on  the 
American  metropolis. 

"The  highest  conception  that  we  can 
now  form  of  the  God  of  the  universe, 
accepting  all  that  science  and  history  and 
reason  teach,  is  of  course  nearer  to  a  true 
conception  than  any  that  was  possible 
before  this  present  age  of  the  world ;  and 
whatever  the  Almighty  may  be  now,  he 
was  at  the  beginning  of  human  history, 
and  has  been  all  through  it,  and  will  be 
to  the  end.  He  was  not  one  thing  to 
Moses  and  the  prophets,  another  thing 
to  the  apostles,  and  yet  another  to  the 
Christian  Church  of  the  Middle  Ages 
and  to  the  churches,  mosques,  and  tem- 
ples of  to-day.  It  is  humanity  that  has 
changed  and  not  divinity  ;  it  is  humanity 
and  not  divinity  that  varies  all  over  the 
earth  now.  If  the  Almighty  has  looked 
after  the  development  of  the  human  race 
at  large  and  in  detail  in  the  sense  implied 
in  speaking  of  Divine  Providence,  I  opine 
that  he  had  just  as  much  to  do  with 
ancient  Egyptian  and  Persian  civilization 
as  with  that  of  Canaan  and  Judaea,  just 
as  much  with  China  and  India  and  Greece 


154    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

and  Rome  as  with  Palestine.  People 
speak  of  such  men  as  Washington  and 
Lincoln  and  Grant  as  having  been  raised 
up  by  Providence  at  critical  times  for  a 
special  service.  Well,  in  a  broad  sense, 
that  may  be  so.  I  never  dispute  such 
statements,  though  I  may  interpret  them 
in  my  own  way,  but  I  am  sure  that  they 
are  raised  up  by  Providence  just  as  much 
as  Moses  and  Joshua  and  David  were, 
and  that  the  annals  of  modern  history 
and  literature  contain  just  as  much  of 
revelation  as  those  of  any  ancient  people 
whatever. 

"  Take  this  question  of  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  which  signifies  practically  all 
the  human  history  of  the  Old  Testament. 
Now,  as  I  have  said  before,  I  have  a 
great  admiration  for  Moses  and  his  work, 
and  only  wish  the  record  could  be  dis- 
tinctly reduced  to  its  historical  elements 
and  Moses  could  get  full  credit  for  what 
he  did.  He  was  a  great  leader  among  his 
people,  a  good  deal  of  a  statesman  for 
the  rude  age  in  which  he  lived, — in  short, 
a  genius,  appearing  at  just  the  right  time 
for  a  great  work.  Perhaps  that  is  Provi- 


MOSES  AND  THE  PROPHETS.        155 

dential,  but  I  do  not  see  how  it  differs 
essentially  from  the  appearance  of  any 
other  great  genius  who  turns  to  the  task 
of  his  time  and  people,  which  is  waiting 
for  the  hand  that  can  perform  it,  and  gets 
the  thing  done.  We  now  know  that  the 
record  of  Moses  and  what  he  did  was 
made  up  ages  after  his  time  out  of  vari- 
ous materials  handed  down  through 
priests  and  scribes  and  mingled  with  tra- 
ditions and  legends.  The  accumulations 
of  priestly  legislation  were  all  attributed 
to  him  and  through  him  to  Jehovah,  and 
the  mass  cannot  be  fully  analyzed  now, 
and  it  would  be  of  no  particular  use  if  it 
could.  The  record  is  framed  in  myths 
and  the  kind  of  explanations  that  always 
accompany  the  first  attempt  to  account 
for  known  events. 

"  First,  the  world  and  its  inhabitants  are 
accounted  for  in  a  rude  fashion  ;  then  the 
Hebrew  race  and  its  claims  upon  the 
territory  it  seized  and  occupied,  and 
finally  the  bondage  and  oppression  in 
Egypt  of  the  descendants  of  Israel,  from 
which  Moses  rescued  them.  Doubtless 
Abraham  may  be  regarded  as  a  person- 


156     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

ification  of  the  ancestral  Hebrew,  who 
impressed  strong  characteristics  upon  his 
race,  and  the  patriarch  story  probably 
has  elements  of  history  in  it.  But  the 
Jehovah  and  the  Elohim  to  whom 
so  much  is  attributed  are  just  exactly 
as  historical  as  Baal  and  Dagon,  or 
Zeus  and  Jupiter.  It  is  no  more  strange 
of  this  than  of  any  other  primitive 
people  that  they  should  attribute  every- 
thing to  their  deity, — for  they  all  did 
it.  The  Joseph  story  is  to  my  mind 
the  most  interesting  of  Scripture  legends, 
and  there  is  doubtless  the  shadow  of 
historic  fact  in  it.  But  famine  in  a  re- 
gion of  deserts  and  watercourses  was  no 
uncommon  thing  and  always  meant  the 
shifting  of  locality  by  nomadic  tribes 
dependent  upon  their  herds  and  flocks. 
The  settling  in  Egypt  was  a  natural  event 
enough  and  the  subsequent  oppression 
was  nothing  strange.  But  the  great 
achievement  was  the  rescue  of  that  peo- 
ple from  bondage,  the  making  of  a  nation 
in  what  was  called  *  the  wilderness,'  and 
the  establishing  of  that  nation  in  the 
land  which  it  claimed  as  the  heritage  of 


MOSES  AND  THE  PXOPHETS.        157 

its  forefathers.  That  was  a  great  exploit, 
and  the  man  who  conceived  and  carried 
it  out  should  have  at  least  as  much  credit 
for  it  as  other  great  men  get  for  what 
they  do. 

"  Moses  understood  the  Egyptians  as 
well  as  the  Israelites,  and  he  took  ad- 
vantage of  the  periodical  plagues  and 
scourges  to  which  they  were  subject  and 
of  their  superstitions  ;  he  fanned  the  an- 
cestral pride  of  his  own  people  and  ex- 
cited their  hopes  of  freedom  and  of  be- 
coming one  of  the  nations  of  the  earth, 
and  he  was  remarkably  favored  by  circum- 
stances, as  other  men  of  genius  have  been 
at  critical  times  since  then.  So  he  got 
that  people  out  of  Pharoah's  clutches 
with  great  skill  and  energy,  and  put  the 
Red  Sea  between  them  and  the  land  of 
bondage.  Of  course,  in  after  ages  the 
achievement  was  surrounded  with  signs 
and  wonders  and  mythical  doings,  but 
what  of  it  ?  So  have  other  great  achieve- 
ments been  enveloped  in  the  same  way. 

"  I  take  that  Pentateuchal  account  of 
the  wandering  in  the  wilderness  to  be 
mainly  mythical.  Historical  light  reaches 


158    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

that  far  with  uncertain  glimmerings,  and 
we  know  that  Moses  had  got  his  people 
into  a  country  where  they  could  live  and 
wait.  Their  ancestors  were  nomadic  and 
accustomed  to  wandering  with  flocks  and 
herds.  Headquarters  were  established  at 
the  great  well  of  Kadesh.  Around  the 
rescued  people  were  related  tribes  from 
which  they  received  accessions.  Canaan 
was  occupied  by  a  stronger  people  than 
they,  and  to  get  possession  was  no  small 
undertaking.  Moses  was  not  fool  enough 
to  rush  helter-skelter  over  Jordan  with  an 
unorganized  and  undisciplined  mass  of 
people  unfit  for  war  and  not  ready  for 
national  existence.  He  addressed  him- 
self to  the  task  of  organizing,  disciplin- 
ing, training,  and  preparing  that  people 
for  its  great  undertaking,  and  it  is  no 
wonder  if  it  took  forty  years  and  was 
attended  with  difficulties  and  perplexi- 
ties, and  if  at  last  he  had  to  leave  the 
actual  invasion  to  a  military  leader  whom 
he  had  succeeded  in  raising  up. 

"You  must  remember  that  after  all 
this  was  practically  a  mere  tribe  of  peo- 
ple, divided  into  clans,  the  population  of 


MOSES  AND  THE  PROPHETS.        159 

a  good-sized  county,  and  that  the  land 
which  they  looked  upon  as  theirs,  and 
which  they  were  determined  to  get  pos- 
session of,  was  not  much  larger  than  the 
State  of  Connecticut.  They  had  to  wait 
and  to  prepare  themselves,  and  to  get  ac- 
cessions from  neighboring  tribes  and  to 
look  out  for  a  favorable  opportunity  for 
attack,  when  the  Canaanites  had  trouble 
on  their  hands.  And  after  all,  there  was 
no  driving  out  and  taking  full  possession, 
but  a  long  struggle  occupying  hundreds 
of  years,  a  gradual  conquest  and  subjec- 
tion, and  an  amalgamation  more  or  less 
complete  with  the  former  occupants  of 
the  territory.  It  was  a  process  quite 
analogous  to  others  going  on  from  time 
to  time  in  the  world's  history. 

"  But  I  am  wandering  somewhat  from 
my  main  point,  which  was  simply  to  men- 
tion that  Moses,  as  a  typical  Biblical 
character,  was  simply  a  man  using  human 
agencies  to  accomplish  terrestrial  objects 
for  his  people. 

"  Now  I  am  going  to  make  one  of  my 
blunt  assertions  that  you,  at  least,  my 
dear  Tom,  are  apt  to  regard  as  startling, 


l6o    All D NIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

if  not  shocking.  The  work  of  Moses  was 
political,  and  not  religious  in  any  modern 
sense.  The  so-called  theocracy  which  he 
established  was  a  matter  of  politics  and 
statesmanship,  with  a  purpose  as  worldly 
as  the  laws  of  Solon  or  the  Constitution 
of  the  United  States.  I  do  not  mean 
that  he  did  not  share  in  his  people's 
belief  in  their  God  or  in  their  awe  of  the 
dreadful  power  of  Jehovah  which  they 
beheld  in  the  operations  of  the  elements, 
but  he  developed  and  applied  that  belief 
for  the  purpose  of  giving  them  the  soli- 
darity of  a  nation.  He  reminded  them 
of  the  traditional  promises  to  Abraham, 
Isaac,  and  Jacob,  and  tried  to  impress 
them  with  confidence  in  their  fulfilment. 
One  thing  he  must  have  or  fail  in  his 
design,  and  that  was  submission  and 
obedience.  He  stood  little  chance  of 
getting  it  for  himself,  but  he  might  get 
it  for  Jehovah,  and  he  strove  to  fill  the 
minds  of  the  people  with  fear  and  dread 
of  that  Being  and  to  keep  them  in  con- 
stant subjection  to  commands  from  One 
with  power  to  punish  as  well  as  to  re- 
ward. He  must  keep  the  people  to- 


MOSES  AND  THE  PROPHETS,        l6l 

gether,  preserve  their  identity,  and  fill 
them  with  patriotic  ardor  for  their  own 
great  cause,  to  prevent  them  from  min- 
gling with  other  tribes  and  being  absorbed 
in  them. 

"  The  most  emphatic  commands  and 
fiercest  threats  were  directed  against  the 
worship  of  the  other  gods  of  those  tribes, 
or  any  form  of  worship  akin  to  it.  And 
rightly  too,  for  all  of  the  idolatrous 
paganisms  involved  such  worship  of  the 
powers  of  nature  as  led  peoples  and 
priesthoods  into  the  foulest  and  most 
obscene  practices,  ruinous  to  all  physical, 
mental  and  moral  stamina.  Half  the  laws 
and  ordinances  were  intended  to  fix  the 
minds  of  the  people  in  subjection  to  the 
unseen  Ruler  and  Leader  whom  Moses 
professed  to  represent,  and  to  keep  their 
thoughts  upon  His  promises  and  threats. 
That  was  the  purpose  of  the  elaborate 
worship  and  the  offerings  upon  the  altars, 
of  the  strict  Sabbath  and  the  periodical 
feasts.  The  '  Jehovah  '—the  'I  am  '— 
of  the  Mosaic  announcement  was  a  pure, 
wholesome  and  holy  conception  of  deity; 
but  he  was  Israel's  God  and  the  enemy 


1 62     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

of  all  other  gods,  and  he  was  capable  of 
destructive  anger  and  fury  of  which  all 
must  beware.  He  must  be  obeyed  or  all 
would  be  lost,  and  the  theocratic  system 
was  intended  to  keep  this  people  in  sub- 
jection to  leadership  and  to  government." 

"  But  you  do  not  mean,"  exclaimed 
Tom,  "  that  Moses  deceived  the  people 
of  Israel  to  secure  obedience  ?  " 

"  Well,  this  is  said  to  have  been  some 
four  thousand  years  ago,  and  it  was  a 
rude  stage  of  intellectual  and  moral 
development.  How  many  great  leaders 
in  political  movements  since  then  have 
used  the  means  to  control  masses  of  peo- 
ple which  they  found  to  be  most  effectual 
for  the  purpose !  Your  judgment  is 
warped  by  the  habit  of  regarding  those 
old  Hebrews  as  different  from  human 
nature  elsewhere  and  since.  Haven't  we 
living  evidences  of  some  of  the  character- 
istics of  that  race  in  which  inherited  pecu- 
liarities are  especially  persistent  ?  Are 
there  no  instances  of  deception  in  the  ac- 
counts of  Jacob  or  in  the  conduct  of  other 
ancient  Israelitish  rulers  than  Moses,  de- 
ceptions even  which  are  openly  attributed 


MOSES  AND  THE  PROPHETS.        163 

to  the  counsel  of  Jehovah?  Moses  had 
an  intense  and  fiery  nature ;  he  was  in 
dead  earnest ;  he  had  turned  his  back  upon 
the  delights  of  civilization  and  royalty  ; 
he  had,  like  Mohammed  after  him,  lived 
in  the  deserts  alone  with  his  projects  and 
his  God  ;  he  was  absolutely  consecrated 
to  his  great  work.  So  Moses  may  have 
believed  in  the  promises  and  purposes  of 
Jehovah,  and  regarded  himself  as  an 
instrument  in  carrying  them  out :  but  it 
was  his  own  plans  and  commands  that  he 
always  attributed  to  that  source,  and  his 
own  scheme  of  worship  and  of  govern- 
ment for  which  he  claimed  a  divine  sanc- 
tion, and  I  have  no  doubt  he  used  '  signs 
and  wonders  '  so  far  as  he  could  to  im- 
press the  people,  without  any  actual 
supernatural  intervention. 

"  Why,  think  for  one  moment ;  in  spite 
of  all  your  prejudices  and  teachings  you 
cannot  possibly  identify  that  Hebrew 
Deity  with  your  own  conception  of  God. 
Then  it  was  not  a  reality,  but  the  concep- 
tion of  the  time  and  the  people,  and  a 
mere  popular  conception  of  Deity  does 
not  give  actual  commands  and  make 


164    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

actual  demonstrations  of  a  concrete  pres- 
ence. Consider,  further,  that  the  record 
which  we  are  considering  was  made  up 
long  after  the  events,  and  we  cannot 
fully  separate  the  real  Moses  from  the 
half-mythical  man  of  God  which  he  be- 
came. 

"  I  tell  you,  the  theocracy  and  the 
theocratic  system  was  a  great  thing,  and 
served  a  great  purpose,  but  it  was  as 
much  a  human  device  as  the  system  of 
Lycurgus  in  Sparta.  It  was  the  means 
by  which  the  Hebrew  nation  was  estab- 
lished and  made  great.  It  was  not  very 
lofty  so  far  as  social,  domestic,  and  per- 
sonal virtues  are  concerned,  although  it 
was  far  above  the  level  of  the  times  ;  but 
it  was  shrewdly  devised  for  the  safety  of 
the  community,  and  inculcated  those  pre- 
cepts that  were  for  the  security  of  the 
state.  It  had  to  do  wholly  with  the 
earthly  well-being  of  one  people,  and  its 
religious  sentiment  was  in  reality  mainly 
a  sentiment  of  patriotism. 

"  Moses  accomplished  his  work,  and 
the  nation  got  itself  on  foot  after  a  fash- 
ion, and  had  its  worldly  vicissitudes.  It 


MOSES  AND  THE  PROPHETS.        165 

ruled  itself  through  judges,  as  they  were 
called, — though  really  they  seem  to  have 
been  gallant  military  leaders, — and  at 
length  they  set  up  a  kingdom.  It  had 
its  wars  and  struggles,  which  developed, 
as  other  such  struggles  have,  a  great  con- 
queror and  king  in  the  person  of  David. 
It  grew  in  wealth  and  power  and  luxury, 
and  under  Solomon  rivalled  the  grandeur 
of  other  nations.  It  became  corrupt  and 
divided  ;  and  it  was  overrun  and  humbled 
by  other  nations. 

"  Read  the  story  with  open  eyes  and  a 
clear  head.  The  tale  is  interesting  and 
instructive.  Don't  let  dogmas  and  super- 
stition spoil  it  for  you,  as  they  have  for 
so  many  people.  I  believe  if  the  Old 
Testament  could  be  stripped  of  those 
antique  wrappings  that  have  so  long 
mummified  it,  it  would  be  read  much 
more  than  it  is,  and  would  contribute 
more  to  the  enlightenment  of  the  world. 
I  would  like  to  see  the  superstitious  view 
of  it  dispelled  and  a  sensible  one  ac- 
cepted, not  for  the  purpose  of  weakening 
its  influence,  but  in  order  to  get  rid  of 
distorted  views  which  are  a  hindrance 


1 66    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

to  its  proper  and  wholesome  influence.  I 
believe  it  would  then  be  read  and  studied 
much  more  than  it  is  now,  for  the  Bible- 
reading  habit  seems  to  me  to  have  largely 
gone  out.  An  aversion  to  it  has  been 
bred  in  healthy  minds  by  theology  and 
dogmatism,  and  it  is  a  pity. 

"  I  know  it  is  claimed  that  the  Bible 
is  studied  more  widely  by  the  people  at 
large  to-day  than  ever  before.  If  so,  I  am 
glad  of  it,  although  that  has  not  been  my 
observation ;  but  to  whatever  extent  this 
is  true,  it  will  be  found  to  be  in  conse- 
quence of  the  admission  of  the  light  of 
new  discoveries,  fresh  criticism  in  philol- 
ogy, and  in  general  the  application  of  my 
favorite  solvent — common  sense — to  the 
interpretation  of  its  poetic  legends  and 
Oriental  mysticisms,  making  the  Script- 
ures teachers  of  ethics  rather  than  of 
theological  systems. 

"Another  good  effect  of  a  common- 
sense  view  of  its  character  would  be  to 
promote  the  collection  of  the  really  valu- 
able and  instructive  parts  without  any 
rubbish,  and  the  proper  collating  and 
simplifying  of  records  of  events,  with 


MOSES  AND  THE  PROPHETS.        1 67 

rational  elucidations  and  explanations. 
We  might  get  a  common-sense  commen- 
tary in  place  of  the  bewildering  mass  of 
lumber  which  laborious  divines  have  piled 
all  over  it." 

"  But,"  said  Tom,  as  the  Judge  paused, 
"  I  thought  you  were  going  to  say  some- 
thing about  the  prophets  as  well  as  about 
Moses.  It  seems  to  me  you  will  have  to  ad- 
mit some  special  inspiration  in  their  case." 

"  Well,  it  is  getting  late,  and  I 
reckon  I  have  said  enough  for  the  pres- 
ent. I  don't  believe  the  Colonel  could 
stand  any  more  to-night ;  but  perhaps,  if 
it  is  not  too  wearisome  for  him,  we  can 
take  the  subject  up  again." 

"O,  I  can  stand  it,"  the  Colonel  re- 
joined, cheerfully,  pulling  at  his  cigar  to 
bring  up  its  dying  fire.  "  In  fact,  I 
rather  like  to  hear  you  ripping  and  tear- 
ing the  old  creeds  and  dogmas,  and  let- 
ting fresh  air  into  the  tombs  of  theology, 
and  then  we  may  get  the  light  of  reason 
and  common  sense  into  Tom's  head,  and 
it  will  do  him  good.  He  is  worth  saving, 
and  I  am  willing  to  be  sacrificed  in  the 
good  work." 


1 68   MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

So  the  party  separated,  the  Judge  and 
the  Colonel  going  out  arm  in  arm,  and 
Tom  and  I  sauntering  up  the  street  and 
quietly  talking  the  matter  over  regardless 
of  the  late  hour.  Tom  was  uncommonly 
calm  about  it. 


XL 

MORE    DISCOURSE    ABOUT    ANCIENT 
SCRIPTURE. 

"  DON'T  forget  that  you  promised  to 
give  us  your  ideas  about  the  prophets," 
said  Tom  rather  anxiously  to  the  Judge, 
as  the  conversation  seemed  to  be  drifting 
off  in  a  wholly  different  direction. 

"  Did  I  make  a  promise?  "  responded 
the  Judge,  lifting  his  eyebrows.  "I 
hardly  think  I  could  have  done  that,  for 
it  is  a  thing  I  try  to  avoid  where  prom- 
ises are  unnecessary.  Minds  and  moods 
change  so  that  easy  promising  is  a  bad 
practice.  However,  I  have  no  objection, 
if  it  is  agreeable  to  the  company,  to  talk- 
ing Scripture  again,  though  it  seems  next 
to  impossible  to  get  people  to  look  at 
the  subject  with  a  straight  vision.  It  is 
really  curious,  the  misconceptions  that 
exist  about  the  Bible  and  especially  the 
Old  Testament,  after  ages  of  systematic 


J/O  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

teaching  of  them  as  Holy  Scripture — 
misconceptions  and  false  notions  as  to 
what  they  really  contain. 

"  I  think  I  have  mentioned  more  than 
once  the  fact  that  the  Hebrews,  during 
the  period  of  their  literature  which 
Christians  call  sacred,  had  no  conception 
of  the  immortality  of  the  soul  or  of  a 
future  life.  How  many  devout  Bible 
readers  are  conscious  of  that  most  signifi- 
cant fact?  Most  of  the  law  had  nothing 
to  do  even  with  morals,  and  the  obser- 
vances it  imposed  had  no  spiritual  pur- 
pose or  meaning  whatever.  The  re- 
straints necessary  to  social  order  and  na- 
tional development  were  recognized,  but 
every  promise  and  sanction  related  to 
mundane  well-being,  and  even  the  pioph- 
ets  in  their  loftiest  flights  recognized  no 
destiny  for  man  beyond  this  world.  The 
idea  of  justice  and  righteousness  was 
highly  developed  under  their  teaching, 
but  it  was  inculcated  for  its  value  to  the 
community  and  to  the  national  life. 
Even  the  great  poem  of  Job,  which  was 
intended  to  illustrate  an  unswerving  con- 
fidence in  the  justice  of  Jehovah  and  a 


MOKE  ABOUT  ANCIENT  SCRIPTURE.    I/I 

vindication  of  that  confidence,  was  con- 
fined to  this  human  life  for  working  out 
its  theory  of  divine  compensation,  and 
hence  was  inevitably  in  contradiction  of  a 
large  part  of  human  experience,  for  the 
righteous  are  not  always  rewarded  and 
the  wicked  punished  in  this  world.  The 
collection  of  national  proverbs  and  wise 
sayings,  to  which  the  name  of  Solomon 
was  attached,  contains  no  wisdom  but 
that  of  this  earthly  stage  of  being,  and 
the  most  devotional  of  the  Psalms,  most 
of  them  of  a  date  long  after  David,  con- 
tain no  hint  of  the  rewards  of  a  life  here- 
after. Although,  as  I  said  the  other 
night,  Moses  must  have  been  familiar 
with  the  conception  of  immortality 
among  the  Egyptians,  the  ideas  that 
came  to  prevail  among  the  Jews  on  this 
subject  before  the  time  of  Jesus  were 
derived  primarily  from  the  Persians  in 
the  time  of  the  captivity  and  from  other 
heathen  sources. 

"The  whole  angelology  and  demon- 
ology  which  the  early  Christian  writers 
mixed  with  their  theology  is  of  pagan 
origin.  The  old  Hebrews  had  little  or 


172    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

nothing  of  it.  Like  all  primitive  people 
and  like  imaginative  children  of  to-day, 
they  had  notions  of  unseen  and  malevo- 
lent beings,  dwelling  in  lonely  places,  but 
Satan  came  from  the  Zoroastrian  mythol- 
ogy, and  the  very  scanty  references  to 
such  a  personage  are  in  writings  made  up 
after  the  Exile.  How  many  times  do  you 
suppose  Satan,  as  a  personification,  is 
mentioned  in  the  Old  Testament?  Just 
five,  and  three  of  those  are  in  the  book 
of  Job,  where  he  is  represented  as  an 
agent  of  Jehovah  for  testing  his  servant 
of  the  land  of  Uz.  Did  you  ever  think 
how  much  the  ideas  of  English-speaking 
people  about  the  Bible  are  derived  from 
Milton  and  not  from  the  Bible  itself? 
Milton  injected  the  demonology  and 
angelology  of  later  times,  in  which  he  was 
richly  versed,  into  the  Garden  of  Eden  in 
a  most  extraordinary  fashion.  The  so- 
called  sacred  record  has  no  hint  of  it. 
In  the  simple  tale  of  Genesis  there  is  no 
devil  and  no  Satan,  but  the  tempter  was 
simply  the  serpent — just  the  snake  of  the 
fields  and  nothing  else.  The  Hebrew 
mythology  was  strikingly  barren  of  su- 


MORE  ABOUT  ANCIENT  SCRIPTURE.    173 

pernatural  creatures  aside  from  the 
Elohim  and  the  great  Jehovah,  and  an 
occasional  angel — messenger — from  Him. 
"  The  prophets  enlarged  and  elevated 
the  conception  of  Jehovah  and  his  attri- 
butes. He  was  originally  a  tribal  deity, 
dwelling  in  storms  and  darkness,  in  tem- 
pests and  fire,  and  on  inaccessible  moun- 
tain-tops, making  terrible  visits  to  the 
camp  of  his  people,  and  taking  up  his 
abode  in  a  gilded  box  within  a  special 
tent.  With  the  attributes  of  power,  of 
wrath,  of  jealousy,  and  vengeance,  he  was 
used  to  control  a  superstitious  and  unruly 
people.  He  was  pretty  well  forgotten 
and  neglected  except  by  a  few  priests 
during  the  period  of  national  develop- 
ment, and  when  the  era  of  reformation 
came,  the  struggles  with  foreign  enemies, 
and  the  captivity  and  the  restoration,  he 
appears  with  quite  a  new  character. 
There  were  seers  and  prophets,  as  among 
other  ancient  peoples,  and  marvellous 
legends  were  preserved  about  them. 
Sometimes  they  broke  out  against  the 
doings  of  the  people  and  their  rulers  and 
uttered  terrible  warnings,  and  sometimes 


174    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

their  counsel  had  much  influence  even 
with  Kings  and  great  warriors.  Of 
course,  they  represented  a  genuine  re- 
form element,  both  in  patriotism  and 
religion,  and  were  generally  accepted  as 
the  mouth  pieces  nd  agents  of  Jehovah. 
Sometimes  they  mysteriously  disappeared 
and  were  said  to  be  snatched  up  by  Jeho- 
vah himself. 

"  But  what  we  mean  by  the  prophets 
of  Israel  were  the  preachers  and  reform- 
ers of  a  later  day,  some  of  whose  utter- 
ances were  most  lofty  and  impassioned. 
A  very  distorted  view  of  them,  however, 
has  been  produced  by  magnifying  the 
predictive  element  in  the  oracles  they 
left  behind — or  those  attributed  to  them, 
for  these  were  collected  after  their  time, 
and  some  were  incongruously  patched 
together  and  assigned  to  the  wrong 
authors,  while  in  some  there  are  un- 
doubted interpolations.  But  their  gen- 
eral character  and  purpose  are  easily 
understood.  They  are  extremely  human 
productions,  these  so-called  prophecies, 
with  most  decidedly  worldly  ends  in 
view,  though  highly  patriotic  and  im- 


MORE  ABOUT  ANCIENT  SCRIPTURE.      I  75 

pressive  for  the  most  part.  It  was  the 
primary  purpose  of  these  great  preachers 
to  restore  veneration  for  Jehovah  and 
submission  to  his  laws.  The  original 
theocracy  had  been  lost  sight  of  by  rulers 
and  people  ;  for  a  long  time  the  law  was 
forgotten  and  its  observances  neglected, 
while  worship  was  paganized  in  the  high 
places.  The  result  was  a  relaxation  of 
the  true  national  spirit  of  Israel  and  of 
the  pride  of  race,  with  a  loss  of  that 
peculiar  Jehovistic  patriotism  that  gave 
courage  and  confidence  in  war  and  kept 
the  people  from  heathen  degradation  in 
peaceful  times.  The  prophets  in  preach- 
ing reform,  in  uttering  threats  and  warn- 
ings, in  recalling  promises  and  predicting 
disaster  or  triumph,  spoke  in  the  name 
of  Jehovah  as  all  the  teachers  of  Israel 
had  been  wont  to  do,  and  as  those  char- 
acterized as  false  prophets  and  de- 
nounced by  Jeremiah  and  others  did 
also. 

"  Of  course  they  regarded  themselves 
as  chosen  and  commissioned  for  their 
special  work,  but  so  do  many  preachers 
nowadays.  Some  of  them  represented 


1 76    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

their  commission  as  being  imparted  in 
visions  and  supernatural  revelations,  in 
which  they  may  easily  have  been  sincere, 
for  they  were  all  men  of  the  excitable  or- 
ganization called  '  the  prophetic  tempera- 
ment.' Yet  even  that  is  a  condition 
not  unknown  in  modern  times.  How 
about  Bunyan's  immortal  dreams  and 
visions,  for  instance  ?  Why  allow  Eze- 
kiel  and  Daniel  less  liberty  or  more 
inspiration?  But,  like  Moses,  these 
great  reformers  were  politicians  or  states- 
men more  than  theologians  in  our  sense. 
They  were  concerned  not  about  the  salva- 
tion of  souls,  but  about  the  salvation 
of  their  people  as  a  political  body  and  a 
nation.  They  preached  a  high  morality 
in  some  respects,  but  it  was  mainly  with 
reference  to  maintaining  the  social  and 
political  strength  of  the  people.  That 
vice  and  iniquity,  injustice  and  oppres- 
sion, and  disregard  of  the  authority  of 
law  sap  the  fibres  of  national  strength  and 
degrade  a  people,  making  them  easy 
victims  to  their  enemies,  was  not  a 
secret  confined  to  Hebrew  teachers,  and 
it  needed  no  special  revelation.  In  all 


MORE  ABOUT  ANCIENT  SCRIPTURE. 

times  of  social  and  political  degeneration 
there  are  men  of  clear  vision,  strong  con- 
victions, and  unflinching  courage  to  de- 
nounce the  evils  of  the  time  and  utter 
warnings  of  the  consequences." 

"But,"  exclaimed  Tom,  "these  proph- 
ets did  predict  future  events,  did  they 
not?" 

"  Yes,  and  so  have  a  great  many  other 
reformers,  and  as  far  as  they  have  had 
real  insight  and  foresight  their  predic- 
tions have  been  substantially  fulfilled. 
When  such  a  people  as  Israel  were  laps- 
ing into  idolatry  and  corruption,  and  for- 
getting the  spirit  of  their  fathers  ;  when 
they  had  incompetent,  dishonest,  and 
degraded  rulers,  and  were  surrounded  by 
active  enemies,  it  needed  no  supernat- 
ural vision  to  foresee  the  consequences, 
and  nothing  but  courage  to  predict  them. 
To  those  who  understood  the  power  and 
the  aggressive  policy  of  Assyria  and 
Babylonia  and  Persia,  when  the  line  of 
their  conquests  encroached  upon  the 
borders  of  Israel,  it  was  plain  that  noth- 
ing but  the  arousing  of  the  pride  and 
virtue  of  the  people,  the  stimulating  of 


1/8   MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

their  confidence  in  their  Divine  Ruler, 
which  was  the  source  of  their  power, 
courage,  and  energy,  would  avert  de- 
struction from  them;  and  it  was  almost 
equally  plain  that  this  would  not  be  done, 
and  that  they  would  not  be  saved  from 
conquest  and  captivity.  The  prophets 
cried  out  with  a  wonderful  energy,  set- 
ting forth  the  evils  and  iniquities  with 
which  the  people  were  besotted,  warning 
them  of  the  inevitable  consequences, 
appealing  to  them  in  the  name  of  their 
God,  reminding  them  of  the  promises  of 
the  past  and  the  destiny  to  which  the 
race  was  born.  Of  course  they  pre- 
dicted ;  how  could  they  help  it  ?  They 
used  all  the  resources  of  their  language, 
with  its  symbolism  and  Oriental  imagery, 
to  rouse  and  save  a  doomed  people.  So 
far  as  their  predictions  were  definite, 
some  of  them  were  substantially  fulfilled 
and  some  of  them  were  not.  They  were 
speaking  for  a  personal  Ruler  to  whom 
they  attributed  certain  set  purposes  and 
methods,  and  events  went  on  in  a 
natural  course,  as  human  events  will, 
subject  to  laws  and  circumstances  and 


MORE  ABOUT  ANCIENT  SCRIPTURE.     179 

the  character  and  condition  of  those 
involved.  I  can  see  no  more  divine 
agency  or  supernatural  intervention  in 
this  history  than  in  any  other. 

"  There  is  one  thing  certain  about 
those  old  prophets.  They  elevated  the 
standard  of  social  and  political  morality 
and  exalted  very  much  the  conception  of 
the  Deity,  extending  his  sway  over  all 
nations  and  recognizing  in  him  the  crea- 
tor and  ruler  of  the  universe.  Until 
after  the  Captivity  and  the  contact  with 
Persian  and  Babylonian  mythology  they 
had  no  angels  or  devils  aiding  or  oppos- 
ing the  Almighty  or  interfering  with 
mankind.  That  '  divine  revelation  '  was 
not  made  to  the  chosen  people,  but  to 
the  heathen.  Even  Solomon's  Cherubim 
and  Seraphim  were  brought  from  Assyria 
by  Hiram  of  Tyre. 

"The  heaven  and  hell  that  have 
figured  so  much  in  Christian  theology 
have  no  germs  or  suggestions  in  the 
'sacred  literature'  of  the  Hebrews. 
These  were  not  '  revealed '  to  them. 
Late  in  their  history  they  conceived  of 
heaven  as  the  dwelling-place  of  the 


ISO  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

Almighty ;  and  after  the  invasion  of 
Persian  mythological  ideas  there  was  an 
occasional  injection  into  their  literature 
of  references  to  other  occupants  of  the 
celestial  region.  It  was  not  an  abode  of 
disembodied  spirits.  Men  died  and  went 
into  the  darkness  of  Sheol,  a  place  of 
death  and  inanition,  never  to  return.  It 
was  not  a  place  of  doom,  but  of  nothing- 
ness. I  think  if  the  Old  Testament 
literature  were  studied  and  taught  ration- 
ally it  would  be  more  useful  and  instruc- 
tive to  us  and  do  more  good  in  the 
world,  and  if  the  dogma  of  inspira- 
tion as  it  has  been  generally  received 
were  definitely  discarded  instead  of  being 
formally  retained,  a  heavy  shackle  would 
be  thrown  from  the  minds  of  devout 
men,  and  religion  would  gain  by  it." 

"But,"  Tom  interjected,  uneasily,  as  if 
fearful  that  the  subject  was  about  to  be 
dropped,  "  you  have  said  nothing  about 
the  most  important  aspect  of  the  proph- 
ecies— the  prediction  of  a  coming  Mes- 
siah." 

"  Well,  in  the  sense  commonly  meant 
by  it,  I  cannot  find  anything  of  the 


MORE  ABOUT  ANCIENT  SCRIPTURE.    1 8 1 

kind  in  them.  One  of  the  chief  burdens 
of  the  utterances  of  the  prophets  was 
their  confidence,  through  all  the  evils  and 
vicissitudes  of  Israel,  in  the  traditional 
promise  attributed  to  Jehovah  of  the 
greatness  and  perpetuity  of  the  nation. 
When  it  was  at  its  worst  they  declared 
that  it  would  be  purged  of  the  elements 
of  evil  and  impurity  and  regenerated ;  a 
purified  remnant  would  be  saved  and 
re-establish  the  kingdom  of  David. 
Though  they  were  overwhelmed  and 
broken  up  and  carried  into  captivity,  it 
was  only  for  their  sins  and  their  disobe- 
dience, and  the  same  mighty  arm  that 
delivered  them  out  of  Egypt  would  yet 
rescue  them  and  fulfil  the  convenant 
with  Jacob.  This  hope  and  promise  is 
what  chiefly  inspired  the  prophets,  and  in 
their  varied  forms  of  figurative  speech 
they  foretold  that  a  great  King  would 
yet  spring  from  the  house  of  David  and 
restore  a  purer  and  loftier  theocracy,  in 
which  Jehovah  should  reign  and  his  own 
anointed  should  sit  on  the  throne  to 
execute  his  will. 

"  You    know   that    Messiah    was    the 


1 82   MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

Hebrew  word  for  anointed,  and  was  first 
applied  to  the  priests  and  afterward  to 
the  kings.  The  hope  with  which  Isaiah 
tried  at  once  to  arouse  and  cheer  the  peo- 
ple was  undoubtedly  that  of  the  final  res- 
toration of  the  nation  under  the  Davidic 
dynasty  and  its  attainment  of  a  grandeur 
never  before  known.  His  Messianic  pre- 
dictions and  those  attributed  to  other 
prophets  clearly  related  to  a  national 
ruler,  who  should  reign  in  righteousness 
and  equity  indeed,  but  whose  dominion 
was  to  be  as  secular  as  that  of  David  or 
Hezekiah.  Those  were  among  the  pre- 
dictions most  conspicuously  unfulfilled. 
"It  is  a  striking  commentary  on  the 
Jehovah  of  the  ancient  Hebrews  as  the 
actual  God  of  the  universe  and  the  per- 
sistent inclination  to  accept  the  records 
of  their  history  and  literary  production 
as  his  inspired  word,  that,  in  point  of 
fact,  the  one  all-embracing  promise  of 
national  greatness  and  perpetual  domin- 
ion was  constantly  deferred  and  finally 
defeated  in  the  completest  fashion  by 
the  utter  destruction  of  the  nation  and 
scattering  of  the  people.  Some  of  the 


MORE  ABOUT  ANCIENT  SCRIPTURE.     1 8 3 

Jews,  however,  still  cherish  the  promise 
and  believe  the  prophecies  will  yet  be 
fulfilled. 

"  The  modification  of  the  Messianic 
idea,  after  the  hope  of  national  recon- 
struction and  greatness  grew  faint,  which 
enabled  the  early  Christians  to  lay  hold 
upon  it  and  make  it  one  of  the  corner- 
stones of  a  fabric  of  dogma,  came  along 
after  the  prophecies  that  have  been  re- 
garded as  inspired.  Isn't  it  a  little  curious 
that  the  modification  and  shaping  of  that 
idea,  which  prepared  it  for  the  early  fram- 
ers  of  Christian  dogma,  ran  through  the 
apocryphal  books  and  the  apocalyptic 
writings,  which  were  excluded  from  the 
canon  of  genuine  Scripture,  and  which 
have  no  claim  to  inspiration,  but  are  mere 
profane  productions  of  the  human  mind. 
Why,  the  Fathers  of  the  Church,  the 
makers  of  creeds,  and  the  defenders 
of  dogmas  have  drawn  ten  times  as  much 
from  these  old  mystic  sources  as  from 
either  the  Old  Testament  or  the  New." 


"Well,"    grumbled    the    Colonel,    "I 
hope  you  are  satisfied  by  this  time,  for 


1 84  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

really  I  am  getting  sick  of  these  discus- 
sions. I  can  stand  them  once  in  a  while, 
but  two  in  succession  are  a  heavy  dose. 
After  all,  what  are  all  these  heretical 
novelties,  any  way,  but  the  common- 
places of  common-sense?" 

Tom  left  me  that  night  with  a  cheer- 
ful avowal  that  he  was  going  to  enter 
upon  a  course  of  study  of  Scripture  on 
his  own  account.  He  had  thought  he 
knew  something  about  it,  but  was  afraid 
he  did  not. 


XII. 

A  DISCUSSION  OF  THE  VALUE  OF 
HUMAN  EVIDENCE. 

THE  next  Saturday  night  I  got  to  the 
club  uncommonly  late,  and  just  as  I  en- 
tered the  room  where  midnight  wisdom  is 
dispensed  the  Colonel  was  saying  with 
vigorous  emphasis  : 

"  I  tell  you  human  testimony  isn't 
worth  a  rap  anyway.  There  isn't  more 
than  one  person  in  a  hundred  who  can 
state  a  thing  as  it  is,  even  when  it  is 
within  his  own  knowledge,  and  there  isn't 
one  in  a  thousand  who  is  habitually 
accurate  or  anywhere  near  it,  or  who 
even  tries  to  be  accurate  ;  and  when  it 
comes  to  hearsay  and  second-hand  state- 
ments, good  Lord  !  the  facts  get  dis- 
torted and  mangled,  so  that  a  cautious 
man  has  to  adopt  the  rule  of  believing 
nothing  that  he  doesn't  see  and  know  for 
himself ;  and  he  has  to  be  careful  or  he 


1 86  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

will  be  deceived  about  what  he  thinks  he 
sees  and  knows. 

"  It  makes  me  laugh  to  see  how  resent- 
ful people  are  when  their  statements  of 
facts  are  questioned  and  how  wrathful 
they  get  when  accused  of  lying.  Why, 
lying  is  the  principal  use  to  which  human 
speech  is  put,  and  those  who  get  the 
maddest  when  accused  of  it  are  most 
addicted  to  it.  A  border-ruffian  or  a 
grog-shop  loafer,  who  scarcely  knows 
what  it  is  to  tell  the  truth,  will  make  a 
killing  matter  of  it.  Duels  have  been 
fought  because  men  of  *  honor,'  men 
who  bragged  about  the  sacredness  of 
their  word,  have  been  '  insulted*  by  some 
one  who  charged  them  with  lying.  In 
nine  such  cases  out  of  ten  they  did 
lie  and  knew  it.  The  insult  consisted  in 
having  the  truth  told  to  them. 

"  I  have  highly-respectable  people  tell 
me  things  every  day  which  I  know  are 
not  true,  and  which  they  know  are  not 
true  ;  in  many  cases  I  know  that  they 
know  they  are  lying,  and  they  themselves 
rather  suspect  that  I  know  it.  It  is  a 
frequent  experience  with  me  to  hear  per- 


VALUE  OF  HUMAN  E  VIDENCE.      1 8/ 

sons  relate  the  same  thing  twice,  without 
any  sort  of  agreement  between  their 
statements.  I  have  even  had  the  same 
thing  told  to  me  twice  by  the  same  per- 
son, at  no  very  long  interval,  with  utterly 
irreconcilable  variations,  and  yet  if  I  had 
plainly  told  him  of  the  discrepancy  he 
would  have  felt  insulted  and  regarded  me 
as  an  uncivil  boor." 

"  Now  let  me  interrupt  you  just  here," 
mildly  interposed  the  Judge,  "  before  the 
point  gets  beyond  recall.  The  case  you 
just  mentioned  suggests  another  reason 
for  the  general  lack  of  accuracy  besides 
that  of  a  want  of  veracity  or  a  propensity 
for  lying,  and  that  is  infirmity  of  mem- 
ory. While  it  is  true  that  people  are 
wofully  careless  in  their  statements, 
there  are  very  few  clear  and  correct  mem- 
ories. A  man  who  tells  you  the  same 
thing  twice  in  different  ways  has  forgot- 
ten the  second  time  that  he  ever  told 
you  about  it  before.  He  has  also  forgot- 
ten his  first  form  of  statement,  and  it  is 
just  as  likely  that  he  has  forgotten  the 
actual  facts.  Most  memories  are  hazy ; 
details  get  lost  and  confused  in  them, 


1 88   MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

the  imagination  undertakes  to  revive  and 
supply  these  details  and  doesn't  do  it 
twice  alike.  Men  with  uncertain  mem- 
ories, lively  imaginations,  and  a  disposi- 
tion to  talk  may  get  the  reputation  of 
being  arrant  liars  when  they  do  not  in 
the  least  intend  to  falsify,  and  are  not 
conscious  of  misrepresentation.  They 
undertake  to  tell  a  thing  of  which  they 
do  not  retain  the  details  except  in  a 
vague  way,  and  they  give  life  to  their 
narrative  by  supplying  them  as  they  go 
along  as  best  they  can.  They  repeat  the 
matter  to  some  one  else,  and  both  the 
actual  details  and  those  of  their  first 
story  have  fallen  into  obscurity  in  their 
minds  and  they  have  to  furnish  a  new 
set,  and  in  each  case  there  is  no  real  inten- 
tion of  departing  from  the  facts.  This 
does  not  militate  against  your  statement 
as  to  the  value  of  evidence,  but  I  should 
not  call  these  inaccurate  people  liars. 
They  do  not  deliberately  misstate  with 
intent  to  deceive." 

"  No,  perhaps  not,"  replied  the  Col- 
onel, "  but  there  are  very  few  people  who 
do  not  do  that  on  occasion.  Everything 


VAL  UE  OF  HUMAN  £  VIDENCE.      1 89 

depends  upon  whether  there  is  a  motive. 
Men  will  lie  to  get  themselves  out  of  an 
awkward  corner,  and  make  apologies  and 
explanations  that  they  know  are  not  true. 
They  will  lie  to  gain  a  point  of  some 
kind,  especially  a  point  in  which  there  is 
pecuniary  profit.  Why,  I  know  men  who 
stand  high  among  their  fellow-men — high 
in  the  Church,  some  of  them — who  will 
make  statements  to  serve  whatever  pur- 
pose they  may  have  in  view,  without  the 
smallest  regard  for  the  facts.  They  wish 
to  convince  you  of  something  or  persuade 
you  to  do  something,  or  to  promote  their 
own  interests  in  some  way  or  other,  and 
they  tell  you  the  most  favorable  things 
that  they  can  think  of  without  the  least 
regard  for  the  truth." 

"  Well,  that  is  more  like  lying  than  the 
other,"  replied  the  Judge,  "  but  even 
that  is  not  altogether  wilful  in  many 
cases.  I  know  just  such  men  as  you 
speak  of,  who  would  not  only  resent 
being  told  that  they  departed  from  the 
truth,  but  who  are  really  not  conscious  of 
doing  so.  The  moral  nature,  as  well  as 
the  memory,  is  subject  to  a  certain  foggi- 


I QO    MID  NIGH  7^  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

ness.  There  are  some  men  who  cannot 
hold  facts  clearly  in  mind,  who  lack 
distinct  perceptions  of  the  moral  value 
of  the  truth,  but  who  in  pleading  a  case 
or  pursuing  an  object  are  possessed  by  a 
sort  of  emotional  control  that  governs 
their  words.  They  make  statements,  as 
you  say,  that  have  no  relation  to  actual 
fact,  and  that  exhibit  no  regard  for  the 
truth,  but  they  are  not  aware  of  it  at  the 
time  and  cannot  be  convinced  of  it  after- 
ward. Such  men  have  no  idea  of  the 
estimation  in  which  they  are  held  by 
those  who  know  them,  and  would  be 
greatly  surprised  if  told  that  they  had  a 
reputation  for  lying.  If  they  were  told 
so  they  would  hardly  believe  it,  and  if 
persuaded  of  the  fact,  would  honestly 
think  that  injustice  was  done  them." 

"  I  don't  take  quite  so  charitable  a 
view  of  human  nature  as  you  do,"  the 
Colonel  replied.  "  I  believe  people  gen- 
erally know  when  they  are  lying,  and 
their  moral  weakness  consists  in  not 
caring." 

"  O,  of  course,  as  to  many  people,"  the 
Judge  responded  ;  "  it  is  deplorably  com- 


VALUE  OF  HUMAN  EVIDENCE.      191 

mon,  no  doubt,  especially  in  the  small 
affairs  of  life,  but  we  must  discriminate 
and  recognize  the  things  that  ought  to 
qualify  our  broad  statements  if  we  wish 
to  be  truthful  and  just  ourselves.  Go 
on,  Colonel,  you  have  the  floor." 

"  Well,  to  get  away  from  the  small 
affairs  of  life.  I  hardly  ever  hear  a  pub- 
lic speaker  of  any  kind  or  grade  without 
being  sure  that  he  is  wrong  in  most  of 
his  statements,  and  deliberately  so  in 
many  of  them.  Political  speakers,  for 
instance,  make  all  manner  of  distorted 
and  garbled  statements,  mangle  histori- 
cal events,  play  the  deuce  with  statistics, 
all  for  a  purpose,  and  the  proportion  of 
truth  in  what  they  say  could  only  be 
detected  by  a  close  analysis,  which  most 
people  do  not  or  cannot  make.  And 
preachers,  Oh,  my!  what  'rousing  whids* 
have  I  not  heard  them  '  vend,  and  nail't 
wif  Scripture ! '  When  I  used  to  go  to 
church — for  I  did  go  occasionally  at  one 
time — it  was  a  marvel  to  me  how  men 
could  stand  in  the  pulpit  and  illustrate 
and  enforce  lessons,  as  they  called  them, 
with  statements  from  history  or  biog- 


192  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

raphy  or  practical  life  that  had  no  sem- 
blance of  truth  in  them.  Twisting 
Scripture  all  out  of  shape  and  proving 
anything  and  everything  with  it  is  bad 
enough,  but  telling  tales  of  everyday 
experience  that  are  not  true  for  the  pur- 
pose of  enforcing  Divine  truth  always 
struck  me  as  peculiarly  atrocious." 

"  I  do  not  go  along  with  you  alto- 
gether," remarked  the  Judge,  as  the  Col- 
onel showed  an  inclination  to  yield  the 
floor  to  somebody  else,  "  but  I  agree  sub- 
stantially with  your  main  position  as  to 
the  value  of  human  testimony,  especially 
in  matters  in  which  the  feelings  or  emo- 
tions or  sentiments  of  the  witnesses  are 
enlisted.  Every  lawyer  knows  how  diffi- 
cult it  is  to  get  witnesses  to  make  a  clear 
statement  and  stick  to  it,  even  when  they 
have  no  intention  to  tell  anything  but 
the  truth.  Lawyers  are  often  suspected 
of  cooking  up  false  evidence  when  they 
are  merely  trying  to  get  their  witnesses 
to  tell  a  straight  story,  to  clear  up  their 
memories  and  get  the  facts  as  they  are. 
They  find  that  a  difficult  job,  and  even 
when  they  think  they  have  got  the  evi- 


VAL  UE  OF  HUMAN  E  VIDENCE.      1 93 

dence  clearly  laid  out,  the  infirmities  of 
their  own  witnesses  are  liable  to  upset  it. 
The  perceptions  of  most  people  are  im- 
perfect ;  their  observations  are  inaccurate  ; 
their  senses  deceive  them ;  their  mem- 
ories are  misty  and  confused,  and  their 
feelings  and  motives  get  mixed  up  with 
their  efforts  to  state  facts,  and  so  it  is 
hard  to  get  at  the  truth  from  their  evi- 
dence. 

"  Take  matters  that  get  into  print. 
We  have  a  strange  disposition  to  put 
confidence  in  what  we  see  in  print,  '  in 
black  and  white/  as  we  say,  as  if  black 
and  white  were  more  veracious  than 
other  colors,  and  we  are  inclined  to  be- 
lieve something  in  a  newspaper  when  we 
would  not  believe  the  same  thing  if  it 
were  told  to  us  by  the  very  man  who  has 
written  it  for  the  paper.  Put  it  in  a 
book  and  we  hardly  dare  question  it ; 
give  the  book  some  peculiar  sanction  by 
a  council  of  wiseacres  and  doubt  is  sacri- 
legious. Take  any  matter  that  comes 
within  your  own  knowledge,  which  is 
reported  in  the  public  prints,  and  how 
often  the  statements  seem  to  be  incorrect 


194  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

or  misleading  ;  and  yet  generally  there  are 
some  pains  taken  to  get  the  facts  and  to 
state  them  correctly.  The  character  and 
conduct  of  men  in  public  life  is  repre- 
sented in  such  a  variety  of  lights  that 
nobody  can  tell  what  manner  of  men 
they  really  are  ;  and  when  I  have  known 
one  of  these  personages,  whose  behavior 
has  been  much  discussed,  it  has  amused 
me  to  think  how  different  he  was  from 
any  conception  that  could  be  formed  of 
him  from  the  evidence  before  the  public. 
"  In  a  general  way  a  public  person  may 
be  said  to  have  four  distinct  characters  at 
least.  There  is  the  real  person  with  his 
qualities,  whatever  they  may  be ;  there  is 
the  person  as  he  estimates  himself  and 
as  he  tries  to  appear ;  there  is  the  person 
as  he  is  represented  and  measured  by  his 
friends  and  admirers;  and  there  is  the 
same  person  as  portrayed  by  his  enemies. 
The  hardest  of  these  to  get  at  is  the  real 
person,  and  the  different  portraits  inter- 
posed before  the  vision  do  not  help  much 
to  the  true  idea.  I  suppose  no  person 
has  any  distinct  or  accurate  notion  of 
what  others  think  of  him.  We  do  not 


VAL  UE  OF  HUMAN  E  VIDENCE.      1 9 5 

know  the  sound  of  our  own  voices,  or  at 
least  we  do  not  know  how  they  sound  to 
others,  and  there  is  a  general  conspiracy 
to  keep  us  in  the  dark  as  to  our  own 
reputation  among  those  about  us.  We 
may  get  vague  hints  of  the  opinion, 
favorable  or  otherwise,  of  various  individ- 
uals, but  the  general  impression,  the 
character  we  bear  in  the  view  of  others 
we  can  never  clearly  apprehend.  We 
move  in  a  world  of  mirrors  and  lenses 
with  various  angles  of  reflection  and 
refraction,  and  the  images  are  magnified, 
minified,  distorted  and  colored,  and  alto- 
gether things  are  truly  not  what  they 
seem. 

"  If  it  is  so  hard  to  get  things  truthfully 
stated  and  to  apprehend  them  as  they  are 
in  the  present,  with  our  own  senses  at 
work,  with  our  personal  knowledge  of 
existing  conditions  and  our  ability  to 
judge  and  to  make  allowances,  how  much 
harder  must  it  be  to  know  just  what  to 
believe  in  the  records  of  the  past — records 
made  up  at  different  times  and  in  differ- 
ent lands,  at  all  sorts  of  distances  of 
time  and  place  from  the  actualities,  under 


196    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

conditions  that  cannot  be  distinctly  re- 
produced, and  by  men  with  various  defi- 
ciencies, mental  and  moral,  and  various 
motives  and  purposes." 

"Ah!  I  thought  it  was  generally  ad- 
mitted," ejaculated  the  Colonel,  "that 
history  and  biography  are  a  pack  of  lies. 
They  may  be  curious  and  interesting  to 
look  at,  like  a  panorama,  but  we  have  to 
remember  that  we  do  not  see  the  actual 
events  or  the  actual  men,  but  pictures  of 
them  made  by  artists  more  or  less  clumsy 
or  more  or  less  skilful,  and  all  aiming  at 
effect  and  not  at  truth." 

"  There  you  are  again,  with  your  ex- 
treme statements  and  your  sweeping 
generalizations,"  replied  the  Judge. 
"  There  has  been  a  good  deal  of  con- 
science and  careful  labor  put  into  efforts 
to  reproduce  the  past  truthfully,  and  by 
close  study  I  think  we  may  get  a  fairly 
correct  idea  of  the  most  important  phases 
of  human  experience.  But  it  is  only  by 
comparing  and  sifting  evidence.  It  is 
perfectly  true  that  grave  historians  have 
been  so  biased  or  so  hampered  that  they 
have  put  events  on  record  in  anything 


VAL  UE  OF  HUMAN  E  VIDENCE.      1 97 

but  the  true  light,  and  personalities  are 
the  most  difficult  of  all  things  in  history 
to  get  a  correct  view  of.  If  a  man  is  im- 
portant enough  to  go  into  history  he  loses 
some,  if  not  all,  the  characters  he  had 
in  life  and  acquires  new  ones.  His  real 
character,  the  man  as  he  actually  was,  is 
apt  to  go  out  of  sight  almost  wholly,  and 
we  get  one  or  more  reproductions  of  him 
with  new  lineaments.  If  he  is  written  up 
by  his  enemies,  as  a  strong  person  like 
Cromwell  or  Bonaparte  is  sure  to  be,  we 
get  his  bad  qualities  magnified  and  his 
good  ones  suppressed  or  shaded  out  of 
sight,  until  he  becomes  a  being  that  never 
existed.  His  admirers  produce  another 
image  equally  far  from  truth,  and  there 
are  two  Cromwells  or  Bonapartes,  who 
never  existed  except  on  paper.  Men  are 
given  to  hero  worship,  and  like  to  have 
their  heroes  painted  on  a  great  scale  and 
in  strong  colors.  Realistic  biography  is 
something  we  have  rarely  had.  Men  of 
action,  whose  lives  are  woven  in  with  his- 
torical events,  appear  more  nearly  in  their 
true  proportions  than  those  who  as  great 
leaders  have  gained  an  ascendency  over 


198    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB, 

the  sentiments  and  affections  of  their  fol- 
lowers. 

"  But  there  is  nothing  in  which  human 
evidence  is  so  uncertain  and  so  untrust- 
worthy as  that  which  verges  on  the  mys- 
tical and  unknown,  that  excites  credulity 
and  the  weakness  for  the  supernatural 
which  seems  to  be  inherent  in  human 
nature.  Did  you  ever  undertake  to  in- 
vestigate Spiritualism  or  Mesmerism  ?  I 
did  at  one  time,  and  everybody  ought  to 
do  it  once  in  his  lifetime  if  he  wishes  to 
learn  how  little  dependence  is  to  be  put 
on  human  testimony  or  even  on  the 
human  senses.  I  have  been  told  most 
marvellous  things  about  mediums  and 
clairvoyants  by  persons  whose  veracity  I 
did  not  doubt,  and  yet  when  I  tried  to 
test  them  for  myself  I  could  find  none  of 
the  marvels.  The  real  thing  and  the 
reported  thing  were  as  unlike  as  mist  and 
sunlight.  For  years  I  tried  with  all 
manner  of  mediums  to  get  one  sim- 
ple and  conclusive  test  of  spirit-com- 
munication, but  never  got  it.  What 
stories  are  told  of  wondrous  clairvoy- 
ant visions,  of  marvellous  cures  by 


VA L  UE  OF  HUMAN  E  VIDENCE.      1 99 

faith,  and    of   the   power   of   mind    over 
mind  ! 

"  I  do  not  deny  that  there  is  something 
at  the  bottom  of  these  things.  There 
seems  to  be  a  mysterious  margin  to  life 
and  experience  extending  into  the  un- 
known, and  psychical  research  is  groping 
over  it.  What  it  means  and  with  what  it 
connects  I  do  not  pretend  to  guess.  The 
subjective  action  of  faith  and  emotion 
is  great  with  some  people.  There  is  a 
curious  magnetism  in  personality  of 
which  we  are  all  more  or  less  conscious. 
Individual  affects  individual  in  a  thousand 
different  ways,  and  the  influence  of  mind 
upon  mind,  or  perhaps  more  strictly  of 
temperament  upon  temperament,  has  no 
measure.  One  person  may  gain  a  mighty 
ascendency  over  another  or  over  many 
others.  In  hypnotism,  mesmerism,  me- 
diumship,  clairvoyance,  faith-cure,  and  all 
the  rest,  there  is  a  vague  something  be- 
sides humbug  and  delusion,  but  it  is  so 
enveloped  in  these  as  to  be  difficult  to 
study.  In  this  realm  of  peculiar  personal 
power  and  personal  subjection  to  power, 
this  occult  region  of  intangible  relations, 


2OO    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

human  evidence  becomes  almost  abso- 
lutely worthless,  and  an  attitude  of  scep- 
ticism is  the  only  defence  of  an  honest 
mind.  Things  may  be  done  that  seem 
miraculous  simply  because  we  do  not 
understand  them.  Feats  of  jugglery  are 
miracles  to  the  simple-minded.  The 
miracles  of  one  age  may  be  the  common- 
places of  another,  science  and  knowledge 
having  explained  what  was  once  incom- 
prehensible and  attributed  to  supernatural 
agency.  So,  things  that  now  seem  like 
miracles  may  yet  be  explained  on  natural 
principles.  But  in  all  matters  seemingly 
miraculous  in  any  age,  whatever  of  gen- 
uine there  may  be  is  sure  to  become 
buried  up  in  exaggerations  and  multipli- 
cations as  they  are  reported  by  amazed 
witnesses  to  credulous  hearers. 

"  It  is  mainly  because  human  evidence 
is  so  very  uncertain,  especially  as  it  gets 
recorded  in  times  of  little  scientific  knowl- 
edge and  much  superstition,  that  I  con- 
sider it  absurd  to  make  belief  in  miracles 
a  test  of  religious  soundness." 


XIII. 

A  DISCOURSE  ON    THE    POWER    OF    PER- 
SONALITY. 

I  GOT  in  the  way,  one  while,  of  putting 
in  an  appearance  at  the  midnight  conclave 
somewhat  behind  time,  and  I  did  not 
always  know  how  the  conversation  had 
started.  One  night  the  Colonel  seemed 
to  have  been  roused  by  some  sort  of  ref- 
erence to  equality,  or  equal  rights,  or 
something  of  the  kind,  for  when  I  en- 
tered the  room  he  was  saying  in  his  cus- 
tomary vigorous  style,  from  which  I 
always  omit  the  most  forcible  expletives  : 

"  This  talk  about  equality  is  all  moon- 
shine. Notwithstanding  the  consecrated 
phrase,  we  know  perfectly  well  that 
all  men  are  not  'created  equal/  but  that 
they  come  into  the  world  with  all  manner 
of  inequalities  and  differences  inherent 
in  their  constitutions.  What  one  can 
achieve  another  cannot,  though  you  give 


2O2   MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

them  the  same  chance.  Put  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  one  and  he  will  overcome 
them  and  carry  all  before  him.  Give  an- 
other a  clear  track  and  he  will  never  get 
anywhere." 

"I  don't  suppose  anybody  seriously 
denies  so  very  obvious  and  common- 
place a  fact  as  that,  do  you  ?  "  put  in  the 
Judge. 

"  Not  directly,  perhaps ;  but  when  a 
conclave  of  woman's  rights  persons  or 
labor  agitators  or  Socialistic  cranks  get  to 
prating  about  equality  they  plainly  assume 
that  human  beings  are  equal  in  capacity 
if  they  only  have  the  same  chance,  and 
that  it  is  circumstances  or  society  or  un- 
just laws  that  produce  differences  of  con- 
dition." 

"O  well,"  replied  the  Judge,  "they 
know  better  than  that,  of  course,  but 
they  talk  in  extremes  for  effect.  What 
they  are  really  contending  for  is  equality 
o£  opportunities.  You  know  that  men 
with  superior  capacity  and  training,  espe- 
cially if  they  begin  with  wealth  on  their 
side,  have  an  enormous  advantage  over 
others,  and  they  are  pretty  apt  to  use  it 


THE  POWER  OF  PERSONALITY.     2O3 

selfishly  and  get  more  than  their  superi- 
ority entitles  them  to.  They  exercise  a 
large  control  in  industrial  affairs,  in  social 
affairs,  in  political  affairs,  in  legislation 
and  administration,  and  they  certainly 
have  used  that  control  to  increase  their 
advantage  over  the  less  capable.  The 
rich  and  strong  are  altogether  too  apt  to 
use  their  power  and  their  advantages  for 
their  own  selfish  benefit,  producing  an  ine- 
quality of  condition  out  of  proportion  to 
the  inequality  of  capacity  and  of  useful- 
ness. It  seems  to  me  that  one  of  the  high- 
est  purposes  of  Christianity  is  to  correct 
this  wrong  and  induce  those  who  have 
many  talents  to  use  them  for  the  general 
good  and  for  the  relief  of  those  who  have 
few." 

"  Now,  let  us  not  talk  Christianity  or 
church  to-night,"  the  Colonel  interjected  ; 
"stick  to  the  text.  My  notion  is  that 
inequality  among  men  is  about  the  most 
striking  fact  in  life  and  the  most  impor- 
tant to  human  progress." 

"  No  doubt  of  that  whatever,"  re- 
sponded the  Judge.  "A  wise  philoso- 
pher has  remarked  that  a  minority  of  one 


204  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

may  be  in  the  right,  and  I  say  that  m  the 
inequality  of  men  one  person  may  weigh 
more  than  all  the  rest  of  his  day  and  gen- 
eration put  together.  He  may  include  in 
his  single  personality  all  the  essential 
qualities  and  powers  of  all  the  brains  and 
character  extant,  and  by  virtue  of  that  fact 
may  exert  more  influence  in  his  time  than 
all  other  living  men  put  together.  Put 
this  one  man  in  the  scale  against  all  the 
rest  and  he  will  tip  the  beam,  and  if  cir- 
cumstances are  favorable  he  may  gain 
an  ascendency  over  a  people  which  they 
cannot  resist,  and  its  effect  may  last  for 
ages. 

"  We  often  notice  the  vast  variety  of 
feature  and  expression  that  may  appear 
within  the  small  limits  of  the  human  face. 
There  is  at  least  an  equal  variation  with- 
in the  narrow  limits  of  the  ordinary 
h.uman  character.  Assuming  that  there 
is  a  certain  aggregate  of  powers  and  qual- 
ities belonging  to  that  character,  they 
vary  immensely  in  the  proportion  and 
combination  of  details,  but  they  do  not 
get  beyond  certain  limits.  One  is  in  part 
a  repetition  of  another,  a  little  stronger 


THE  POWER  OF  PERSONALITY.     205 

here  and  a  little  weaker  there,  and  all  the 
mental  power  and  moral  qualities  of  a 
million  men  are  no  more  in  quantity,  per- 
haps, than  those  of  some  one  man  among 
them.  The  man's  mind  may  be  a  sort  of 
composite  photograph  of  all  the  other 
minds,  and  there  might  be  a  man  of 
genius  the  perimeter  of  whose  intellect 
would  include  all  and  more  than  all  that 
was  in  the  brains  of  the  rest  of  the  race. 
To  be  sure,  genius  is  apt  to  be  greatness 
on  one  side  only  of  human  character,  but 
it  might  be  so  comprehensive  as  to  take 
in  all  sides. 

"  After  all,  the  difference  among  men 
is  within  small  limits.  A  few  more 
ounces  of  brain  of  finer  quality,  a  slightly 
different  combination  of  elements  consti- 
tuting the  force  of  temperament,  and  a 
man  may  rise  over  the  heads  of  the  mul- 
titude and  lead  it  whither  he  will.  He 
comprehends  all  that  others  comprehend, 
and  more,  too.  He  sees  all  that  they  see 
"and  what  lies  beyond  their  vision  as  well. 
He  becomes  like  a  mighty  schoolmaster 
among  his  boys,  leading  and  directing 
them  because  he  is  greater  and  wiser  than 


206     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

they.  I  don't  much  like  the  word  genius, 
but  I  suppose  it  means  simply  the  superi- 
ority that  comes  from  endowment  beyond 
the  normal  standard.  A  man  of  special 
genius  may  be  a  great  astronomer  or 
poet,  or  inventor,  or  soldier,  his  mind 
bulging  over  the  normal  line  in  one  direc- 
tion; a  man  of  universal  genius  would  be 
a  Gulliver  among  the  Lilliputians. 

"  This  power  of  personality,  noticeable 
in  small  ways  all  about  us,  in  the  force  of 
individual  attraction  and  repulsion,  when 
it  appears  on  a  large  scale  accounts  for 
much  in  human  history  and  progress.  Its 
influence  is  modified  or  limited  by  its 
qualities  and  by  circumstances,  but  the 
personality  of  one  man  may  have  most 
astounding  effects.  It  may  found  a  na- 
tion or  save  it  from  destruction,  and 
change  the  course  of  a  people's  history. 
It  may  give  one  man  an  ascendency 
which  all  hostile  forces  cannot  break. 
Call  it  Divine  Providence  or  call  it  evolu- 
tion— and  I  do  not  see  why  the  two  may 
not  be  the  same  thing — but  how  many 
times  has  the  stress  of  circumstances 
brought  forth  the  man  for  some  great 


THE  POWER  OF  PERSONALITY.     2O/ 

emergency,  and  through  him  solved  the 
problem  into  which  human  affairs  had  be- 
come tangled  !  Moses  and  David,  Alexan- 
der and  Caesar,  Cromwell  and  Bonaparte, 
Washington  and  Lincoln,  what  do  not 
these  names  signify  as  to  the  size  of  the 
factor  in  human  affairs  that  may  be  ex- 
pressed in  the  personality  of  one  man!  It 
may  be  the  factor  without  which  the 
problem  were  insoluble  for  the  time  being, 
and  without  which  its  solution  would  call 
for  other  processes  and  produce  different 
results  to  the  world 

.  "  And  wonderful  it  is,  the  ascendency 
which  a  single  personality  may  gain  over 
the  minds  of  men  in  its  own  time  and 
the  times  thereafter.  In  a  small  way  it  is 
shown  in  the  devotion  of  soldiers  to  some 
strong  and  generous  commander,  in  the 
complete  subserviency  of  followers  to 
some  popular  leader,  and  occasionally  in 
the  command  which  a  teacher  like  Ar- 
nold or  a  preacher  like  Wesley  acquires 
over  a  large  body  of  disciples  who  spread 
the  influence  of  his  personality  far  and 
wide.  On  a  larger  scale  it  appears  in 
the  case  of  great  statesmen  or  military 


208    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

leaders,  and  when  the  two  characters  are 
combined  in  one  person  the  ascendency 
that  he  may  acquire  over  a  patriotic 
people  is  extraordinary,  as  you  know. 
You  have  only  to  think  of  Cromwell,  of 
Frederick  the  Great,  of  Bonaparte,  and 
of  what  they  were  in  the  history  of 
their  time,  to  realize  how  large  a  factor 
one  man  of  superior  powers  may  be  in 
the  computations  of  life.  What  would 
not  the  French  people  do  for  Bonaparte 
when  he  was  alive  ?  and  what  effects  did 
his  prestige  have  upon  the  nation  long 
after  his  great  brain  was  dust ! 

"  But  I  deem  the  most  powerful  quality 
of  all,  combined  of  course  with  others  on 
a  heroic  scale,  to  be  personal  disinterest- 
edness or  unselfishness.  Nothing  in  the 
long  run  so  commands  the  homage  of 
mankind.  Neither  Washington  nor  Lin- 
coln was  a  man  of  great  genius  in  war  or 
statecraft,  though  they  had  powers  that 
served  the  occasion  in  that  respect ;  and 
the  esteem  in  which  they  are  held  is  due 
more  to  a  belief  in  their  unselfish  pa- 
triotism, their  devotion  to  the  cause  of 
their  country,  than  to  admiration  for 


THE  POWER  OF  PERSONALITY,     2OQ 

great  intellectual  power.  Such  men 
speedily  become  idealized  in  the  public 
mind ;  their  defects  disappear,  their 
faults  become  unknown  or  disbelieved  in, 
and  their  strong  qualities  are  more  or  less 
magnified,  especially  when  death  has 
silenced  detraction.  I  suppose  the  one 
flawless  idol  of  this  land  is  Washington, 
and  the  worship  of  what  he  represents  is 
a  great  conservative  influence. 

"  But  the  power  and  prestige  of  a  great 
military  commander  or  statesman,  even 
when  his  course  is  not  marred  by  selfish 
ambition,  are  small  in  comparison  with 
those  of  really  great  moral  and  religious 
teachers  and  leaders.  There  have  been 
few  such  of  extraordinary  greatness  in  all 
the  world's  history,  but  they  stand  con- 
spicuous above  all  others  in  the  lasting 
influence  they  have  exerted  and  the  ex- 
alted position  to  which  they  have  been 
raised  in  the  estimation  of  mankind. 
Let  really  great  human  genius  take  the 
form  of  insight  into  man's  nature  and  re- 
lations, let  it  deal  with  the  unsearchable 
mysteries  of  life  and  lift  the  curtains  of 
birth  and  death,  between  which  love  and 


2IO    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

hate,  hope  and  despair,  play  their  thrilling 
dramas,  and  it  will  speedily  become  dei- 
fied. Admiration  and  wonder  are  not  suf- 
ficient homage  for  that  kind  of  genius.  It 
commands  worship. 

"  Consider  the  power  and  influence  of 
Confucius,  who  taught  deep  truths,  not 
for  his  own  benefit,  but  for  those  of  his 
people  and  race,  and  who  gathered  disci- 
ples and  followers  in  his  lifetime  from 
whom  his  teachings  were  spread  through 
the  most  populous  empire  of  the  world 
and  sent  down  to  after  generations.  He 
illustrates  the  force  of  a  personality  great 
on  the  side  of  moral  and  ethical  wisdom. 

"  Zoroaster  lived  before  the  Hebrew 
prophets  and  established  a  religious  sys- 
tem from  which  organized  Christianity 
has  derived  far  more  in  past  times  than 
from  Judaism.  The  notion  of  two  great 
Powers,  those  of  good  and  evil,  contend- 
ing for  the  soul  of  man,  for  its  salvation 
or  destruction,  together  with  the  notion 
of  good  and  evil  spirits,  angels  and  devils, 
in  the  service  of  these  powers,  had  its 
origin  in  the  Zoroastrian  system.  Both 
the  ethical  and  spiritual  aspects  of  that 


THE  POWER  OF  PERSONALITY.     2  1 1 

system  were  loftier  than  anything  taught 
by  Moses  or  the  prophets.  The  Hebrews 
got  some  inkling  of  them  at  the  time  of 
the  Persian  captivity  and  after ;  and  they 
were  wrought  somewhat  into  the  Judais- 
tic  theology  of  the  post-canonical  period, 
and  still  more  into  the  development  of 
the  Christian  system.  Zoroaster's  life 
and  teachings  are  enveloped  in  myths  and 
miracles,  but  their  effects  in  the  world  are 
beyond  calculation. 

"  Most  wonderful  of  all  illustrations  of 
the  power  of  personality — save  one  per- 
haps— is  that  of  Siddhartha  Gautama. 
By  his  life  and  teachings  he  commanded 
the  devotion  of  a  large  body  of  followers 
before  his  death  and  furnished  the  basis 
of  a  religious  and  moral  system  which 
won  the  submission  of  a  larger  portion  of 
the  human  race  than  any  other  that  ever 
existed,  and  that,  too,  among  a  people  of 
acute  intellect  and  high  civilization.  In 
purely  ethical  teaching  he  stands  almost 
without  a  peer  in  human  history.  His 
power  over  the  minds  of  men  was  largely 
due  to  self-sacrifice  and  a  disinterested 
devotion  to  the  well-being  of  the  human 


212   MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

race.  His  gospel  was  proclaimed  as  a 
gospel  of  salvation  from  sin  five  centuries 
before  Christianity.  The  essence  of  his 
teaching  was  the  subduing  of  evil  and  the 
cultivation  of  good,  the  purification  of 
life  culminating  in  universal  charity. 
Nothing  could  be  loftier  so  far  as  mun- 
dane existence  is  concerned. 

"  Through  his  character  and  teaching 
Gautama  attained  his  wonderful  ascend- 
ency, which  grew  and  expanded  after  his 
death.  But  his  followers  had  the  irresis- 
tible human  tendency — the  human  neces- 
sity, I  might  say — of  organizing  mystic 
doctrines  and  ceremonies  and  observances 
out  of  his  simple  but  profound  teachings, 
and  the  Buddhist  religion  of  after  times 
had  only  its  roots  in  the  gospel  of  the 
great  Buddha?  It  was  no  long  interval 
after  Gautama's  death  that  his  birth  and 
life  and  departure  became  enveloped  in 
legends  and  miracles,  as  was  inevitable. 
He  was  born  without  an  earthly  father — 
a  favorite  explanation  in  early  times  of 
purity  of  character — and  was  wise  and 
sinless  from  his  birth.  Angels  ministered 
to  him  and  wise  men  sought  him  out  in 


THE  POWER  OF  PERSONALITY. 

his  infancy  and  prophesied  his  greatness 
and  goodness.  An  aged  priest  predicted 
that  he  was  to  lead  the  world  to  salva- 
tion. His  footsteps  were  attended  by 
miracles,  and  the  cremation  of  his  body 
was  accompanied  by  supernatural  mani- 
festations. Belief  in  these  things  en- 
tered into  the  religion  of  his  followers. 

"  There  have  been  other  great  teachers 
who  have  led  men  by  a  hold  upon  their 
deepest  sentiments,  and  by  a  sublime 
confidence  in  asserting  their  mastery  over 
the  mystery  of  life  and  death,  and  they 
afford  the  very  highest  illustration  of  the 
power  which  a  single  personality  may 
gain  by  possessing  the  greatness  of 
genius  on  the  moral  and  spiritual  side  of 
man's  nature.  Inequality  among  men  ! 
Why,  the  face  of  human  nature  is  as  un- 
equal as  the  face  of  the  earth,  with  its 
general  level  and  with  its  depressions  and 
dark  caverns,  and  its  elevations  and  lofty 
heights!" 

This  did  not  turn  out  to  be  much  of  a 
conversation  or  discussion.  The  Judge 
fell  into  a  continuous  discourse,  and  no- 


214    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

body  cared  to  interrupt  him  until  he  had 
got  through,  and  then  nobody  seemed  to 
have  anything  to  say.  As  Tom  and  I 
went  out  together,  I  interrupted  his  med- 
itations by  asking : 

"What  do  you  suppose  the  Judge  is 
driving  at  in  these  last  two  talks  of  his  ?  " 

"  O,  nothing  in  particular,  I  fancy," 
was  the  reply.  "  The  Colonel  started  the 
subjects  and  the  Judge  drifted  off  in  quite 
a  characteristic  way." 


XIV. 

TOM  GETS   LIGHT  ON    THE    BEARING    OF 
PREVIOUS   REMARKS. 

ONE  Saturday  night  I  had  made  one  of 
my  rare  visits  to  Tom  Benedict's  fireside, 
and  we  walked  down  to  the  club  to- 
gether. It  had  seemed  to  me  as  though 
Tom  had  been  imprudently  taking  his 
wife  into  his  confidence  in  the  matter  of 
the  discussions  of  the  "  Owls."  She  had 
an  uneasy,  half-anxious  way  about  her 
that  was  not  usual,  and  I  felt  more  con- 
straint in  her  presence  than  before, 
though  I  never  could  get  on  any  sort  of 
easy  terms  with  the  too-angelic  creature. 
She  said  nothing  to  betray  her  anxiety, 
but  I  could  see  that  she  really  wished 
that  Tom  would  not  go  out,  and  half  re- 
sented my  presence  as  an  obstacle  to  her 
saying  so.  When  we  were  on  the  street 
Tom  said : 

"  I    have    been    thinking   a  good  deal 


2l6  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

about  the  application  of  those  last  two 
talks,  and  of  course  I  see  the  drift  of 
them,  but  I  am  really  interested  to  hear 
Judge  Truman  carry  out  his  ideas  to  the 
conclusion  on  the  religious  question.  Do 
you  suppose  he  will  take  the  subject  up 
again  to  night  ?  " 

"I  don't  believe  he  will,"  I  replied, 
"  unless  somebody  else  starts  it  or  invites 
a  continuation  of  the  discussion.  He  is 
a  man  who  seems  to  be  full  of  ideas 
which  he  is  just  as  willing  to  keep  to 
himself  as  to  express,  unless  somebody 
shows  a  desire  to  hear  them.  He  is  as 
likely  to  talk  about  Arctic  exploration  or 
the  stock  market  as  anything  else,  if  no- 
body indicates  a  preference." 

"  Well,  I  believe  I  will  try  to  start  him 
on  the  old  track,  for  my  mind  is  full  of 
the  subject,"  said  Tom,  <4  and  as  I  can- 
not get  it  out  of  my  head  I  may  as  well 
go  on  to  some  kind  of  satisfactory  stop- 
ping place  with  it." 

"  I  am  afraid  you  won't  reach  it,"  I  re- 
plied, "  but  you  may  be  carried  far 
enough  to  worry  along  alone,  and  find 
rest  for  yourself  as  best  you  may." 


BEARING  OF  PREVIOUS  REMARKS.      2 1/ 

We  completed  the  walk  in  silence,  and 
found  the  Judge  and  the  Colonel  in  what 
we  had  come  to  regard  as  a  sanctum  of 
our  own  for  the  late  hours  of  Saturday 
night,  quietly  conversing  upon  their  ex- 
clusive and  inexhaustible  stock  of  com- 
mon interests. 

"  Well/'  exclaimed  the  Judge  in  his 
cheery  way,  "  you  old  fellows  are  get- 
ting averse  to  meeting  before  midnight, 
while  we  youngsters  would  like  to  break 
up  without  encroaching  too  much  upon 
the  Sunday.  I  hope  you  haven't  lost 
any  friends,  Tom ;  you  are  looking  a  bit 
gloomy." 

"  O,  no ;  not  gloomy,  I  hope,  only 
serious/'  Tom  responded.  "  I  have  been 
thinking  a  good  deal  of  late  and  studying 
some,  and  perhaps  it  doesn't  agree  with 
me.  Do  you  know,  I  have  spent  all  my 
spare  time  for  the  last  two  or  three  weeks 
reading  the  Old  Testament  in  the  light 
of  what  you  were  saying  to  us  about  it, 
and  I  must  confess  that  I  am  inclined  to 
take  a  different  view  of  it ;  but  really  I 
do  not  see  that  it  makes  much  difference 
with  the  Christian  faith.  I  do  not  find 


2 1 8     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  A  T  THE  CL  UB. 

that  after  all  it  depends  very  much  upon 
anything  in  the  Hebrew  Scripture,  ex- 
cept perhaps  the  Ten  Commandments." 

"  Why  make  that  exception  ?  "  queried 
the  Judge.  "  They  were  a  sort  of  solemn 
and  impressive  formulation  of  the  most 
essential  principles  of  the  old  law.  The 
first  four  had  reference  to  the  exclusive 
worship  of  Jehovah  and  the  observances 
that  were  to  guard  against  the  idolatries 
of  Moab  and  Edom  and  the  rest,  and  the 
others  embody  certain  ethical  principles 
common  to  all  people  and  all  time,  recog- 
nized as  soon  as  there  is  civilization 
enough  to  demand  protection  for  society. 
A  purely  secular  moral  standard  now 
would  include  all  there  is  in  them,  and 
more  too.  The  Christian  faith  can  hardly 
be  independent  of  anything  in  the  shape 
of  truth  and  sound  principle,  but  it  is 
not  dependent  on  any  particular  state- 
ment of  them  in  past  ages." 

"  What  most  troubles  me,  though,"  ex- 
claimed the  anxious  Thomas,  "  is  the 
effect  upon  the  New  Testament  of  giving 
up  the  sacredness  of  the  Old  as  a  revela- 
tion of  the  Divine  will." 


BEARING  OF  PREVIOUS  REMARKS.      2  19 

"  That  is  a  mere  matter  of  words,"  re- 
plied the  Judge.  "  '  Sacredness,'  '  revela- 
tion/ *  Divine  will,' — what  do  they  mean  ? 
Is  not  the  Divine  will  revealed  in  all  hu- 
man experience  and  knowledge  and  in 
human  thought  and  reason  as  well  ?  and 
is  it  not  as  sacred  in  one  place  and  time 
as  another?  What  the  Hebrew  Scriptures 
really  are  and  mean  cannot  be  changed  by 
any  juggle  of  words,  and  the  results  of 
historical  and  scientific  criticism  will  have 
to  be  accepted.  It  is  useless  trying  to 
resist  it.  But  the  anxiety  you  express  is 
the  common  one.  There  would  not  be 
much  clinging  to  the  idea  of  peculiar  sa- 
credness  or  of  special  inspiration  in  the 
Old  Testament  if  it  were  not  for  fears  on 
account  of  the  New.  Give  up  the  idea 
in  the  one  case  and  you  cannot  hold  on 
to  it  in  the  other,  and  good  people  think 
they  must  have  it  in  order  to  retain  belief 
in  what  they  have  been  taught  to  believe 
and  what  they  still  wish  to  believe. 

"  They  are  quite  right  about  that,  but 
they  overrate  the  importance  of  the  dog- 
mas in  which  they  believe,  either  to 
moral  conduct  or  a  religious  life  in  the 


220  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

highest  and  best  sense.  The  life,  char- 
acter, and  teachings  of  Jesus  in  their 
purity  are  all  there  is  essential,  it  seems 
to  me,  to  a  Christian  religion  adapted  as 
much  to  these  times  as  any  other;  and 
these  cannot  be  obliterated  from  history. 
The  more  clearly  they  can  be  brought  out 
from  the  record  and  the  more  exclusively 
they  can  be  made  the  basis  of  preaching 
and  organized  religious  work,  the  more 
effectual  they  will  be  for  the  regeneration 
of  mankind.  They  have  become  so  in- 
volved in  mysticisms  and  dogmatisms, 
and  covered  over  with  such  an  accumula- 
tion of  creeds  and  doctrines,  that  what 
ought  to  attract  has  come  to  repel  the 
very  people  who  most  need  the  benefit  of 
religious  faith." 

"  Then  you  would  treat  the  New  Tes- 
tament record  in  the  same  critical  spirit 
as  the  Old  ? "  Tom  asked,  as  if  he  could 
possibly  have  thought  otherwise. 

"  Why,  of  course,  or  any  other  record  ! 
Why  not  ?  You  doubtless  think  that 
you  must  retain  the  theory  of  Divine  in- 
spiration in  order  to  retain  your  belief  in 
the  miraculous,  and  that  vou  must  hold 


BEARING  OF  PREVIOUS  REMARKS.    221 

to  that  belief  in  order  to  have  any  bottom 
for  faith  or  confidence  in  the  truth  of  re- 
ligion. I  do  not  think  so.  But  whatever 
you  think,  if  you  really  make  a  critical 
study  of  this  record,  you  cannot  avoid  the 
conclusion  that  it  has  all  the  defects  and 
imperfections  of  a  human  work,  based 
upon  the  uncertainties  of  human  testi- 
mony under  circumstances  that  made  it 
exceptionally  uncertain,  and  I  do  not  see 
how  you  are  going  to  escape  the  logical 
deductions  from  that  conclusion. 

"  Now,  look  here,  Tom  !  I  do  not  care 
at  all  to  expatiate  on  this  subject  unless 
you  wish  it  ;  but  if  I  do,  of  course  I  shall 
say  just  what  I  think,  and  I  hope  I  have 
made  it  plain  that  I  believe  in  the  neces- 
sity of  religious  faith  and  worship  for 
mankind  and  of  the  immense  value  and 
importance  of  the  Christian  Church. 
What  I  contend  for  here  in  the  privacy 
of  our  circle  is  that  the  Church,  in  order 
to  maintain  its  great  influence  and  power 
for  good  and  do  the  work  which  most 
needs  to  be  done,  absolutely  must  range 
itself  in  line  with  modern  progress  in 
knowledge  and  thought.  It  cannot  re- 


222     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

tain  an  effectual  hold  upon  the  convic- 
tions of  men  by  requiring  them  to  believe 
what  the  most  honest  and  serious  of 
students  and  thinkers  cannot  believe  and 
the  ordinary  every-day  common  sense  of 
the  people  will  reject. 

"  You  know  there  has  been  a  good  deal 
of  critical  study  of  the  New  Testament 
literature  in  recent  years,  and  it  yields 
readily  to  the  same  tests  as  are  univer- 
sally accepted  for  all  other  human  rec- 
ords, and  honesty  requires  us  to  accept 
the  results.  Really  very  little  study  is 
necessary  to  verify  them.  I  don't  want 
to  make  myself  tiresome  by  talking  about 
the  political,  social,  and  literary  condi- 
tions under  which  that  record  was  pro- 
duced, but  I  suppose  you  know  this : 
Christianity  as  a  system  was  founded, 
though  not  fully  organized,  a  generation 
after  Jesus  finished  his  teaching,  by  Paul 
and  the  apostles.  Their  work  was  carried 
forward  by  the  so-called  '  Fathers  of  the 
Church,'  whose  writings  were  not  made 
canonical,  as  those  of  the  first  Christian 
writers  were.  Paul  was  the  father  of 
Christian  dogma,  and  it  was  multiplied 


BEARING  OF  PREVIOUS  REMARKS.    22$ 

and  extended  by  his  successors ;  and  why 
have  not  the  religious  leaders  of  to-day 
as  much  right  to  modify  it  as  they 
had? 

"You  must  remember  that  the  letters 
of  Paul  and  the  apostles  were  in  all  prob- 
ability written  before  the  Gospels.  These 
men  founded  the  Christian  system,  not 
simply  on  the  life  and  teachings  of  Jesus, 
but  still  more  on  his  birth  and  death, 
which  they  used  as  a  means  of  introdu- 
cing that  mysticism  which  in  those  times 
seemed  to  be  a  necessity  of  religion.  It 
was  after  this  had  been  done,  after  the 
Messianic  idea  had  been  modified  and  ac- 
cepted and  the  prophecies  had  been  inter- 
preted to  support  it,  after  the  idea  of  the 
miraculous  birth,  the  sacrificial  meaning 
of  the  Last  Supper,  the  crucifixion,  and 
the  resurrection,  had  been  adopted  and 
wrought  into  the  texture  of  the  new  faith 
— and  perhaps  a  hundred  years  and  more 
after  the  actual  events — that  the  Gospel 
record  was  made  up  in  permanent  written 
form.  And  even  what  that  was  we  do  not 
know:  for  the  oldest  claim  for  any  manu- 
script of  any  of  the  books  dates  it  in  the 


224     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

early  part  of  the  fourth  century  after 
Christ ;  and  the  most  ancient  of  these 
bear  many  evidences  of  errors  in  copying, 
and  subsequent  changes  and  corrections. 
What  is  the  natural  and  inevitable  conse- 
quence? Actual  written  records  were  im- 
perfect and  fragmentary,  made  up  from 
the  memory  of  different  persons;  oral 
tradition  was  dim  and  distorted,  and  the 
doctrines  already  promulgated  and  ac- 
cepted necessarily  affected  the  writers 
and  colored  the  narrative.  Compare  the 
four  different  records  as  we  have  them 
now,  in  English  translations  from  varying 
Greek  manuscripts,  and  see  if  they  do  not 
bear  all  the  marks  of  human  production. 
They  are  not  consistent  with  each  other 
in  details.  The  same  events  are  related 
with  material  variations  ;  they  are  differ- 
ently connected  and  assigned  to  different 
times,  places,  and  situations,  and  conspic- 
uous and  well-remembered  teachings  and 
sayings  are  put  in  with  no  sort  of  agree- 
ment as  to  the  occasions  that  brought 
them  out.  This  does  not  impugn  the 
practical  authenticity  or  good  faith  or  im- 
mortal value  of  the  writings,  but  it  gives 


BEARING  OF  PREVIOUS  REMARKS.    22$ 

them  a  very  human  character,  does  it 
not  ?  " 

There  was  a  slight  pause  here,  and  the 
perturbation  of  the  devout  Thomas  was 
plainly  visible.  He  seemed  to  be  trying 
to  get  his  shattered  ideas  together  for 
some  kind  of  protest  or  reply,  but  the 
Judge,  noticing  that  he  was  bewildered 
and  would  not  do  himself  justice  kindly 
relieved  him  of  all  occasion  for  saying 
anything  by  proceeding. 

"  I  know,  my  dear  boy,  that  this  view 
is  shocking  to  you,  although  it  is  not  new 
to  scholars,  many  of  them  earnest  Chris- 
tians, too.  I  only  wish  I  could  get  you 
to  regard  it  as  really  in  the  interest  of  the 
highest  religion  and  the  purest  Chris- 
tianity, and  I  think  you  may  come  to  that 
sometime  if  you  study  it  out.  I  know 
what  is  at  the  bottom  of  your  troubled 
mind, — the  miracles  and  all  that  they  are 
supposed  to  sanction  and  to  sanctify. 
Well,  you  must  see  by  this  time  that 
I  think  too  much  importance  is  at- 
tached to  belief  in  them.  I  do  not  ac- 
cept them  as  miracles,  of  course,  but  I 
do  not  pretend  to  say  just  how  much 


226    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

of    fact    the    stories    may   have    sprung 
from. 

"You  must  remember  what  we  were 
saying  about  the  value  of  human  testi- 
mony, especially  when  it  relates  to  mys- 
terious phenomena  which  people  do  not 
understand,  and  to  that  border-land  of 
human  experience  which  has  so  long 
baffled  psychological  inquiry.  Get  it  on 
record  through  the  oral  traditions  of  a 
hundred  years  in  an  uncritical  time,  and  it 
becomes  impossible  to  sift  it  down  to 
facts.  You  know  also  that  we  admitted 
that  there  is  or  may  be  much  of  reality  of 
some  kind — not  supernatural,  but  belong- 
ing to  the  unexplored  realm  of  the  nat- 
ural— in  all  this  clairvoyant,  spiritual-me- 
dium, faith-cure,  hypnotism,  personal 
magnetism  business  ;  in  short,  that  some 
personalities  peculiarly  endowed  have  a 
marvellous  ascendency  over  others  and 
produce  strange  effects.  I  can  easily  im- 
agine that  this  wonderfully  constituted 
and  endowed  teacher  of  humanity  who 
came  out  of  Nazareth  had  such  a  com- 
mand over  the  faith  of  the  simple  and 
devout  souls  of  the  time  as  to  produce 


BRA  RING  OF  PRE  VI 0  US  REMARKS.    2  2  / 

very  remarkable  effects  upon  those 
afflicted  with  many  of  the  infirmities  that 
flesh  is  heir  to.  Do  we  not  occasionally 
hear  of  similar  cures  and  similar  control 
over  conduct  even  nowadays?  All  that 
was  real  in  what  came  to  be  known  as 
the  miracles  may  be  accounted  for  by 
natural  forces  and  influences,  not  much 
understood  even  now,  and  not  at  all  at 
that  time.  That  the  reports  of  them 
should  become  magnified  and  distorted 
was  simply  inevitable ;  and  that  they 
were  so  is  certain. 

"  As  a  test  of  the  record  of  these 
things,  let  me  ask :  Do  you  suppose  that 
any  man  of  sense  really  believes  that 
insane  or  epileptic  or  cataleptic  or  any 
other  persons  are  or  ever  were  possessed 
by  demons  who  could  be  driven  out  of 
them  and  made  to  enter  a  herd  of  hogs  ? 
For  my  part,  I  cannot  be  made  to  believe 
that  any  person  actually  dead  was  ever 
brought  back  to  life,  though  I  do  not 
marvel  at  all  that  there  should  have  been 
reports  and  stories  of  such  things.  Does 
it  ever  strike  you  as  significant  that  the 
most  remarkable  of  the  alleged  miracles, 


228    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

the  raising  of  Lazarus,  is  mentioned  only 
in  the  latest  and  most  doctrinized  of  the 
Gospels?  Would  such  an  amazing  ex- 
hibition have  escaped  the  knowledge  and 
memory  of  the  earlier  evangelists,  those 
who  were  nearest  to  the  events  and  may 
have  derived  their  knowledge  directly  or 
indirectly  from  eye-  and  ear-witnesses? 
But  the  fourth  Gospel  differs  from  the 
others  to  such  an  extent  as  to  seem  like  a 
record  of  different  events  and  different 
personages.  The  inconsistencies  are  ir- 
reconcilable and  to  be  explained  only  on 
the  theory  that  the  latest  book  was  writ- 
ten to  support  the  doctrines  and  interpre- 
tations that  had  by  that  time  been  estab- 
lished by  the  founders  of  the  Church;  or 
at  all  events  that  it  was  tinged — no, 
stained  and  dyed  throughout— by  the  in- 
tense doctrinal  mysticism  of  its  author, 
whether  that  was  the  "Apostle  John,"  or 
the  "  Presbyter  John,"  or  whoever  it  was. 
"  Now  I  want  you  clearly  to  understand 
my  position  on  this  matter.  It  is  simply 
that  of  freedom  of  study,  freedom  of 
thought,  and  freedom  of  belief.  I  do  not 
object  to  others  believing  in  the  mirac- 


BEARING  OF  PRE  VI 0  US  RE  MA  RKS.    2  29 

ulous  and  the  supernatural,  if  they  can 
honestly  do  so,  and  if  it  affords  the  most 
satisfactory  solution  of  the  problem  for 
them.  I  object  only  to  such  a  belief 
being  required,  being  obligatory,  in  order 
that  a  person  may  be  admitted  to  Chris- 
tian fellowship;  for  honest  and  devout 
minds  must  differ,  and  some  of  them  can- 
not avoid  what  I  and  many  others  regard 
as  rational  conclusions.  As  I  have  said 
more  than  once,  the  ordinary  intelligence, 
the  every-day  common  sense,  of  people  is 
pretty  sure  to  respond  nowadays  to  the 
conclusions  of  science  and  reason,  to 
accord  with  them  in  a  rough  way ;  and 
people  cannot  be  won  to  better  lives 
by  imposing  upon  them  conditions  of  be- 
lief which  they  cannot  and  will  not  ac- 
cept. If  the  churches  would  broaden 
their  limits  by  letting  ancient  dogmas  go 
and  giving  liberty  to  honesty  of  belief 
and  of  doubt,  they  could  maintain  as  high 
a  standard  of  moral  purity  and  integrity, 
as  lofty  a  form  of  a  worship  and  as  spirit- 
ual a  view  of  religion — aye,  more  so — 
and  greatly  increase  their  power  and  in- 
fluence for  good. 


MUHHGffT  TALCS  AT  TOE 


~  But  I  am  talking  too  long  and  having 
it  too  much  to  myself.  I  wish  the  rest  of 
~  ;  _  _"  ~. .  .  .  ~  i  »!  ~  _  iv ;  n*  r  r« 

and  have  your  own  say  about  these 
thing-.  Suppose  we  wind  up  the  whole 
subject  next  tone  with  a 
which  each  shaft  express  his 
view;  for  in  two  weeks  from  this  night  I 
expect  to  be  on  the  ocean,  bound  for  a 
stay  of  some  norths  abroad." 

"  Count  me  oat !  "  ejaculated  the  Col- 
oad,  who  had  sat  grim  and  silent 
throughout.  "  The  whole  thing  wearies 
me  to  death.  I  arn  giad  yon  Apeak  of 
winding  «p  next  time,  so  far  as  thai  sub- 
ject is  concerned,  haft  I  am  souy  yoa 
ale  going  abroad,  thnagfr  I  suppose  I 
shall  be  off  somewhere  myself  pretty 


"  Bat  you  must  help  wind  up,  for  I  par- 
tmlafiy  wish  to  hear  what  yon  wifi  say 

—     "-    -  ^-^  *       *    ^  —    -  A>X».  .«. A  A ^^^^^^^9}      — 

aner   tmnmng     tne     matter    over,     re- 


"  AD  right ;  if  I  find  I  can  think  it  orer, 
I  win,  and  let  you  know  the  result.  And 
Tom  wOl  come  atovnd  with  the  latest 

oforthodox>. 


BEARING  OF  PREVIOUS  KRMABKS.    2}l 

And  our  silent  friend,  here,  I  hope  we 
may  hear  from  him." 

:Xo,Ithaiikyoii/*IrepUed-  "Having 
no  *  views '  to  present,  I  prefer  to  be  the 
audience,  making  up  in  attention  for  lack 
of  numbers.  Silent  and  £kfe*  are 
grams,  and  I  wffl  be  the  silent  Li* 


XV. 

THE  COLONEL   MAINTAINS    THE  USEFUL- 
NESS   OF   DELUSION. 

THAT  "  symposium  "  suggested  by  the 
Judge  came  off  duly  on  the  following 
Saturday  night,  and  was  quite  an  occa- 
sion. It  prolonged  the  session  of  the 
"  Owls  "  until  near  three  o'clock  of  Sun- 
day morning,  and  I  was  unable  to  get 
the  most  condensed  statement  of  what 
was  said  into  one  installment  of  my  re- 
ports. I  could  hardly  cover  the  ground 
of  one  speaker  within  the  proper  limits, 
but  I  did  not  sleep  until  I  got  the  whole 
thing  on  paper,  fearing  lest  it  evaporate 
from  my  memory  and  the  notes  I  had 
been  making  all  the  morning  should  be- 
come undecipherable. 

There  was  an  unusual  air  of  formality 
about  the  gathering,  the  effect  of  a  pre- 
announced  programme,  which  prevented 
something  of  the  free-and-easy  spirit  that 


USEFULNESS  OF  DELUSION.         233 

had  been  the  chief  charm  of  the  previous 
talks.  This  having  the  thing  in  mind  be- 
forehand and  thinking  it  over  seemed  to 
impart  a  gravity  to  the  occasion,  which 
would  have  spoiled  it  but  for  the  antici- 
pation that  once  for  all  each  was  to  have 
his  say  on  a  momentous  matter  which  all 
the  previous  desultory  conversations  had 
almost  unconsciously  led  up  to.  It  was 
to  be  disposed  of  and  got  out  of  the  way, 
and  then  the  conclave  was  to  break  up 
for  the  summer. 

"  Well,  Colonel,"  said  the  Judge  in  the 
brisk  tone  of  a  master  of  ceremonies 
after  we  had  got  comfortably  settled 
down,  "  I  have  no  doubt  you  concluded 
to  think  over  the  matter  we  were  talking 
about  a  week  ago  and  have  got  something 
to  say  worth  listening  to." 

"  The  matter  you  were  talking  about, 
you  mean,"  replied  the  Colonel,  with  a 
glare  in  his  blue  eyes.  "  You  know  I 
have  no  taste  for  this  sort  of  discussion, 
but  I  have  decided  for  once  to  let  out  on 
it,  and  I  am  going  to  astonish  you  by  tak- 
ing up  the  orthodox  side." 

"Nothing  will  astonish  me,"  rejoined 


234    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

the  Judge  with  a  sort  of  suppressed 
chuckle,  "  but  I  will  wager  that  Tom  will 
not  accept  your  advocacy  of  the  orthodox 
side  as  satisfactory  to  him  and  other  de- 
vout believers." 

"  Perhaps  not,  but  I  cannot  help  that ; 
if  they  will  not  accept  the  only  ground 
there  is  left  for  them  to  stand  upon  I 
shall  leave  them  to  their  fate  hereafter. 
You  know  my  personal  views  well  enough, 
Judge.  I  accept  science  and  reason,  be- 
lieve what  I  can  find  out  to  be  true,  and 
prefer  my  own  judgment  to  any  one's 
else  ;  and  as  to  the  Deity,  the  immortal- 
ity of  the  soul,  a  future  life,  and  all  that 
sort  of  thing,  I  simply  say  I  don't  know 
anything  about  it,  can't  find  out  anything 
about  it,  and  don't  believe  anybody  else 
can.  But — " 

This  last  word  was  spoken  with  porten- 
tous emphasis  and  was  followed  by  a  long 
pause,  and  then  the  Colonel  set  forth 
upon  a  discourse  which  he  had  evidently 
thought  out  with  some  care : 

"  What  difference  does  it  make  if  the 
beliefs  which  it  is  so  easy  to  criticise  and 
pick  to  pieces  are  founded  in  delusion  ? 


USEFULNESS  OF  DEL  US  I  ON.         2$$ 

They  may  be  just  as  necessary  to  restrain 
and  to  sustain  poor  human  nature  as  if 
they  were  based  upon  demonstrated  and 
everlasting  truth.  I  am  inclined  to  think 
that  delusion  may  serve  a  very  useful 
purpose,  and  that  it  is  hardly  safe  to 
be  in  a  hurry  to  dispel  it.  It  may  serve 
in  the  place  of  props  and  scaffolding 
in  the  slow  process  of  building  the 
moral  fabric  of  the  human  race  until 
it  can  stand  firmly  on  the  basis  of 
knowledge,  or  rather  of  wisdom,  and  it 
is  never  safe  to  knock  out  your  props  and 
take  down  your  scaffoldings  until  the 
building  is  complete. 

"  You  admit  that  while  the  system  of 
Moses  was  crude  and  more  or  less  bar- 
barous it  was  adapted  to  the  condition  of 
the  people  for  whom  it  was  intended  and 
was  a  good  thing  for  them.  The  same  is 
true  of  any  system  at  a  given  time  and 
place.  It  is  the  product  of  the  people's 
needs,  the  best  result  of  such  teaching  as 
they  are  capable  of.  It  is  not  what  a 
perfected  human  race  would  have ;  but 
the  human  race  is  not  yet  perfected,  and 
these  things  are  processes  and  means 


236  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

in  its  development,  and   not  at  all  final 
results. 

"  I  believe  the  religion  of  this  day  or 
any  other  day  is  just  as  good  as  the 
people  can  benefit  by,  and  if  there  is 
superstition  in  it,  or  if  it  is  founded  in 
delusion,  that  is  a  part  of  the  necessity  of 
the  case.  People  can  believe  in  a  delu- 
sion with  just  as  much  enthusiasm  as  in 
a  truth ;  and  more,  too,  for  enthusiasm 
is  a  matter  of  feeling  and  not  of  intellect. 
No  person  would  be  willing  to  die  for  a 
scientific  fact  or  a  truth  in  philosophy, 
but  many  people  have  died  for  their  faith 
in  sheer  delusion.  Even  Tom  will  admit 
it  in  the  case  of  heathen,  who  suffer  and 
die  for  their  superstitions  with  all  the 
heroism  of  Christian  martyrs.  He  must 
also  admit  it  in  the  case  of  some  Chris- 
tian martyrs  when  he  remembers  that 
the  persecuted  heretics  of  one  place  or 
time  are  the  true  believers  of  another, 
and  that  men  have  died  with  equal  stoi- 
cism in  support  of  propositions  that  were 
contradictory  of  each  other.  It  always 
seemed  absurd  to  me  to  take  the  willing- 
ness of  men  to  die  for  their  faith  as  an 


USEFULNESS  OF  DEL  US  ION.         237 

evidence  of  its  soundness.  Faith  sus- 
tained by  delusion  is  just  as  strong  and 
will  produce  as  much  confidence  and  ex- 
altation of  feeling,  as  much  hope  and 
assurance  of  blessedness,  as  that  sustained 
by  the  deepest  philosophy. 

"  It  is  all  very  well  for  you  and  me  to 
say  that  we  can  go  safely  through  life 
doing  our  duty  by  ourselves  and  others, 
and  confident  enough  as  to  any  future 
destiny,  without  accepting  the  present 
doctrines  of  so-called  religion.  Perhaps 
we  can,  and  perhaps  a  small  fraction  of 
mankind  are  safe  enough  with  nothing 
but  science  and  philosophy  to  guide 
them,  but  it  is  not  so  with  the  great 
mass.  They  do  not  know,  they  do  not 
think,  they  do  not  reason  to  sound  con- 
clusions, and  they  must  believe  or  they 
are  lost.  Men  who  are  beset  with  pas- 
sionate impulses  that  carry  them  into 
vices  and  crimes,  who  cannot  see  that 
these  mean  destruction  for  themselves, 
and  who  lack  the  strength  to  resist  them 
even  if  they  did  appreciate  their  peril— 
what  is  the  use  in  telling  such  men  that 
they  will  be  happier  and  better  off  if  they 


238  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

will  do  right  and  be  good  ?  You  cannot, 
with  all  the  science  and  philosophy  ex- 
tant, hold  them  from  going  down.  They 
must  have  something  that  will  take  hold 
of  their  hopes  and  fears  with  a  mighty 
grip. 

"  Poor  humanity,  with  its  tendency  to 
sink  into  the  beast,  must  believe  in  order 
to  be  saved.  It  must  have  the  strongest 
kind  of  motives  presented  in  order  to 
struggle  successfully  against  depravity. 
It  must  believe  in  most  definite  and 
tangible  rewards  and  punishments.  It 
must  have  a  heaven  to  hope  for  and  a 
hell  to  shrink  from,  and  these  must  be 
positive,  concrete  things,  and  not  bar- 
ren abstractions  or  vague  possibilities. 
Heaven  and  hell  were  useful  inventions, 
and  we  cannot  get  on  without  them.  We 
must  still  bribe  and  scare  people  to  sal- 
vation or  they  will  go  to  destruction.  I 
mean  salvation  and  destruction  in  this 
world,  in  a  social,  moral  and  political 
sense.  Argue,  if  you  please,  that  belief 
in  a  heaven  and  hell  hereafter  is  founded 
in  delusion  pure  and  simple,  but  it  is  no 
less  necessary  as  a  restraining  influence 


USEFULNESS  OF  DELUSION.        239 

on  that  account.  And  I  think  the  doc- 
trines that  inspire  awe,  excite  hopes 
and  fears,  and  impress  people  in  a 
way  to  make  them  submit  to  authority, 
serve  a  useful  and  necessary  purpose, 
whether  they  rest  upon  absolute  truth 
or  not. 

"  I  could  never  think  that  educated 
Catholic  priests  had  any  real  belief  in  the 
forms  and  ceremonies  of  their  Church, 
but  I  suppose  they  see  how  effective 
these  are  in  bringing  the  ignorant  and 
superstitious,  those  in  whom  feeling  is 
more  potent  than  reason,  into  submission 
and  control,  and  they  use  the  system  for 
that  purpose.  It  is  a  good  thing  they 
do,  for  the  lawless  elements  would  be 
more  lawless,  the  tendency  to  socialism, 
anarchy,  and  a  general  'dissolution  and 
thaw'  of  society,  would  be  stronger  but  for 
this  restraint.  I  conceive  that  the  ritual- 
istic churches — the  Roman  and  the  Angli- 
can— have  done  a  great  thing  in  conserv- 
ing the  sentiment  of  religion  ;  the  Protest- 
ant churches  generally  have  gone  off 
after  intellectual  barrenness  of  dogma- 
tism and  so  have  less  control  over  their 


240    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

followers.  There  is  less  of  religious  re- 
straint in  other  churches  than  the  Roman, 
at  least,  partly  because  their  field  is 
among  people  who  need  it  less ;  but 
they  need  a  good  deal  of  it,  all  the 
same. 

"And  to  get  the  restraint  and  the 
incentive  to  effort  that  are  necessary,  I 
tell  you,  people  must  believe,  not  think ; 
especially  those  whose  thinking  capacity 
is  small.  Your  critical  and  philosophic 
view  of  revelation  is  of  no  use  to  them. 
A  God  of  the  universe  who  is  a  deduc- 
tion from  nature  and  science,  a  future 
state  that  is  a  possible  inference  from 
philosophy,  are  not  enough.  They  must 
have  a  God  with  positive  attributes,  with 
a  direct  interest  in  their  lives,  upon 
whom  they  feel  themselves  absolutely 
dependent,  and  he  must  be  revealed  so 
that  there  can  be  no  question  about  it. 
The  future  state  of  happiness  or  misery 
must  be  a  reality  and  not  a  deduction  or 
an  inference,  and  hence  only  a  possibil- 
ity ;  and  to  be  a  reality  it  must  have 
been  revealed  and  made  known  with 
authority.  All  this  may  be  delusion,  but 


USEFULNESS  OF  DELUSION.        241 

what  if  it  is  ?  It  is  just  as  necessary  and 
just  as  effective  for  all  that. 

4 '  Certainty  is  what  men  in  this  world 
want,  not  doubt ;  and  they  can  get  it  only 
by  unquestioning  faith  in  some  author- 
ity. Take  away  the  anchorage  for  that 
and  they  are  adrift,  on  a  perilous  sea  with- 
out pilot  or  compass  and  with  no  guide 
but  the  stars,  which  they  do  not  under- 
stand. 

"  Not  only  is  this  positive  belief,  this 
unquestioning  faith,  which  nothing  but 
the  acceptance  of  Divine  Providence  and 
Divine  revelation  can  sustain,  necessary 
to  enable  people  to  strive  against  the  evil 
tendencies  of  their  nature  and  to  over- 
come them,  but  it  is  necessary  to  give 
them  hope  and  comfort  in  the  trials  of 
life.  What  satisfaction  can  science  and 
philosophy,  with  their  doubtful  infer- 
ences, afford  to  that  large  portion  of  the 
human  race  that  must  spend  their  days  in 
toil  and  hardship  and  privation,  and  are 
beset  with  misfortunes  and  losses?  They 
work  on  year  after  year  with  little  ease 
or  comfort ;  they  lose  even  the  oppor- 
tunity to  earn  bread  at  times.  They  see 


242    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

their  families  in  poverty,  sometimes  in 
suffering  and  misery  ;  they  are  subject  to 
sickness,  and  death  comes  at  intervals  to 
try  their  souls.  In  this  little  span  of  life 
what  are  their  compensations  and  where 
is  their  hope  of  compensation  ?  By  all 
means,  teach  them  that  there  is  a  God, 
who  is  not  merely  a  remote  and  incom- 
prehensible abstraction,  but  a  personal 
Father  to  them  all.  Let  them  believe 
that  he  is  watching  over  them  and  taking 
note  of  their  sufferings  and  hardships, 
that  he  credits  them  with  their  efforts  to 
do  right  and  to  bear  their  burdens  with 
cheerful  resignation,  and  that  in  his  own 
good  time  he  will  take  them  from  this 
vale  of  tears  to  an  exceeding  great 
reward,  which  will  more  than  make  up 
for  all  they  have  borne. 

"  Religious  faith  is  necessary  to  sus- 
tain the  poor  and  the  heavy-laden,  to 
inspire  them  to  efforts  that  shall  keep 
them  from  giving  way  to  moral  degen- 
eration and  enable  them  to  be  virtuous, 
honest,  and  upright,  and  that  shall  save 
them  from  despondency  and  desperation. 
And  they  are  not  the  only  ones  that 


USEFULNESS  OF  DEL  USION.         24  3 

need  it.  Others  meet  with  misfortune 
and  bereavement,  and  need  the  support 
and  consolation  of  a  confident  depend- 
ence upon  a  higher  Power ;  they  need  it 
to  sustain  and  comfort  them  in  trial  and 
affliction  and  they  need  it  to  aid  them  in 
maintaining  their  integrity  of  character 
in  spite  of  the  buffets  of  the  world. 
Take  away  their  faith,  and  why  should 
they  not  commit  suicide  or  plunge  into 
gratifications  of  passion  that  will  lead  to 
speedy  death  ? 

"  You  cannot  get  high  enough  in  the 
scale  of  intelligence  or  of  worldly  success 
to  escape  the  need  of  this  kind  of  faith  as 
a  restraining  influence.  The  besetting 
weakness  of  all  mankind  is  Selfishness, 
and  it  leads  to  a  multitude  of  wrongs  and 
iniquities.  Prosperity  is  selfish,  wealth  is 
selfish,  success  is  selfish,  business  is  self- 
ish, politics  is  selfish,  and  at  the  bottom 
of  all  man's  inhumanity  to  man  is  selfish- 
ness. It  leads  to  indulgence  and  excess, 
and  it  leads  to  injustice  and  injury  to 
others.  It  is  at  the  bottom  of  the  moral 
evils  that  afflict  society.  Knowledge 
and  philosophy  may  be  the  antidote  of 


244    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

this  for  the  few,  but  not  for  the  many. 
They  need  to  be  impressed  with  the  idea 
that  this  life  is  as  nothing  compared  to 
the  life  to  come,  and  that  by  their  selfish 
course  they  are  laying  up  wrath  against 
the  day  of  wrath,  that  they  are  incurring 
the  displeasure  of  the  Almighty,  and 
that  the  Lazarus  whom  they  turn  from 
their  gates  will  repose  in  Abraham's 
bosom  when  they  are  suffering  the  tor- 
ments which  their  wrong-doing  deserves. 
"  I  tell  you,  the  men  of  this  world, 
to  escape  moral  degradation  and  social 
death  and  the  disasters  to  society  that 
must  come  from  the  prevalence  of  the 
evil  tendencies  of  human  nature,  must 
believe  in  a  personal  Deity  who  takes  an 
interest  in  their  doings  and  will  call  them 
to  an  account.  They  must  believe  in  a 
state  of  rewards  and  punishments  com- 
pared with  which  all  the  gains  and  losses 
of  this  world  are  as  dust  in  the  balance. 
They  must  be  impressed  with  this  belief 
so  that  it  will  have  a  vital  power  over 
their  lives.  On  what  shall  it  rest  ?  You 
cannot  'base  it  on  science  and  reason.  It 
must  rest  upon  revelation,  and  a  revela- 


USEFULNESS  OF  DELUSION.         245 

tion  that  is  authoritative  and  inspired, 
for  no  other  can  preclude  doubt. 

"  So  you  see  that,  although  I  do  not 
personally  accept  anything  that  the  word 
'faith*  implies,  I  think  the  churches  are 
right  in  basing  their  teachings  upon  it 
and  holding  to  doctrines  that  are  neces- 
sary to  support  it. 

"  Neither  do  I  deplore  the  division  into 
sects.  The  Roman  Catholic  system  is 
wonderfully  adapted  to  its  purposes,  and 
reaches  the  souls  of  men  upon  whom 
rational  preaching  would  be  lost.  But 
beyond  a  certain  line  in  the  combination 
of  ignorance  and  knowledge,  of  supersti- 
tion and  reason,  of  emotion  and  thought, 
that  make  up  the  human  character,  it 
loses  its  hold,  and  other  systems  of  belief 
are  better  adapted  to  the  work  of  Chris- 
tianity. So  far  as  people  are  allowed  to 
think  and  to  judge  they  come  to  disagree 
and  to  divide,  and  there  are  sects 
adapted  to  the  wants  and  needs  of  differ- 
ent natures.  So  much  the  better!  All 
are  provided  for.  Nor  do  I  care  if  some 
in  the  churches,  even  of  their  ministers, 
do  not  really  believe  all  that  they  profess, 


246    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

in  continuing  to  accept  the  traditional 
creeds.  They  may  see  the  value,  even 
the  necessity,  of  beliefs  which  in  their  own 
minds  they  cannot  fully  accept,  and  they 
may  be  convinced  that  they  can  act  more 
effectively  in  the  great  work  of  saving 
sinners — to  use  a  cant  phrase  of  theirs — 
by  not  disturbing  these  beliefs.  Devout 
freethinkers  like  you,  Judge,  and  un- 
devout,  but  self-confident,  unbelievers 
like  me,  are  at  liberty  to  take  our  own 
way,  and  why  should  we  meddle  or  make 
with  the  churches  or  the  religious  sys- 
tems that  the  state  of  the  world  and  of 
mankind  makes  necessary?  Let  them 
alone,  I  say!" 

Fully  conscious  that  I  have  been  unable 
to  preserve  characteristic  phraseology 
and  personal  flavor  of  the  Colonel's  dis- 
course, I  yet  think  I  have  its  substance 
all  right.  When  he  had  finished  and  was 
lighting  a  cigar,  with  a  manner  denoting 
immense  relief,  the  Judge  turned  to  Tom 
and  said,  "Well,  my  boy,  are  you  satis- 
fied with  that  as  a  defence  of  the  position 
of  the  Church  ?  " 


USEFULNESS  OF  DELUSION.         247 

"  No,  sir,"  was  Tom  Benedict's  prompt 
reply. 

But,  as  I  said  at  the  start,  this  talk  was 
too  long  to  be  reported  in  one  statement, 
and  we  shall  have  to  defer  Tom's  remarks 
to  another  chapter. 


XVI. 

TOM  BENEDICT  AS  A  DEFENDER   OF 
THE  FAITH. 

"  THE  objection  I  have  to  the  Colonel's 
position,"  Tom  proceeded,  "  is  that  it 
presents  a  total  lack  of  sincerity  and 
good  faith  as  the  basis  of  what  you 
might  call  a  policy  for  the  Church  and 
for  religious  teachers.  It  is  founded  on 
the  Jesuitical  maxim  that  the  end  justifies 
the  means,  and  it  would  use  systematic 
deception  as  a  means  of  keeping  people 
on  their  good  behavior.  It  is  like  the 
wicked  old  practise  of  scaring  children 
with  bogy  stories  to  make  them  obe- 
dient, and  promising  them  impossible 
things  if  they  will  be  good.  It  is  calcu- 
lated to  promote  hypocrisy  and  demor- 
alize society  rather  than  keep  it  under 
restraint.  I  mean,  of  course,  if  the  the- 
ory of  delusion  were  to  be  admitted  and 
acted  on.  I  do  not  think  that  any  one 


TOM  DEFENDS  THE  FAITH.         249 

who  does  not  in  substance  honestly 
accept  the  doctrines  of  the  Church  can 
be  justified  in  subscribing  to  them,  much 
less  in  teaching  them. 

"I  agree  with  the  Colonel  that  faith 
and  belief  are  necessary ;  they  are  and 
must  be,  it  seems  to  me,  the  very  basis 
of  all  real  religion :  but  my  ground  is 
that  they  must  be  founded  not  upon 
delusion  but  upon  Divine  revelation, 
which  may  be  differently  understood  and 
interpreted  at  different  times  and  places, 
but  is  in  substance  ever  the  same.  I 
know  that  I  am  myself  conscious  of  the 
need  of  a  belief  in  a  Deity  who  is  some- 
thing more  than  an  abstraction.  I  do 
not  suppose  that  I  am  weaker  or  more 
prone  to  evil  than  most  men,  but  I  find 
it  hard  enough  to  pursue  the  course  in  all 
the  relations  of  life  which  I  know  to  be 
right,  and  I  am  sure  I  should  come  very 
far  short  of  it  without  my  belief  in  the 
Father  of  us  all,  who  has  laid  his  com- 
mands upon  us  and  watches  over  our 
conduct,  who  will  help  us  if  we  call  upon 
him,  who  will  call  us  to  account  if  we  are 
wayward  and  consciously  erring,  and  who 


2$0  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

will  reward  and  punish  in  another  life 
according  to  our  deeds  in  this.  There 
would  be  no  support  in  such  a  belief  if  it 
were  not  confidently  based  upon  actual 
revelation.  In  fact,  it  cannot  rest  with- 
out such  a  basis,  it  seems  to  me. 

"  But  my  faith  does  not  proceed  from 
study  and  reason,  though  I  admit  that  to 
be  sound  it  must  be  consistent  with  the 
final  results  of  knowledge — that  is,  truth. 
Yet  it  seems  to  me  that  there  is  more  in 
the  nature  of  man  than  body  and  intel- 
lect, and  that  the  intuitions  of  the  soul 
and  the  consciousness  of  the  spirit  may 
be  as  convincing  as  the  processes  of  the 
reason,  and  even  more  so,  for  they  may 
come  nearer  to  absolute  conclusions.  It 
is  the  consciousness  of  a  spiritual  being 
within  me,  of  spiritual  needs  and  of 
spiritual  relationships,  that  is  the  real 
bottom  of  my  faith,  and  the  purest  and 
most  exalted  natures  have  had  this  con- 
sciousness in  the  highest  degree.  I  take 
their  teachings,  drawn  from  the  intuitions 
of  spiritual  insight,  as  being  just  as  au- 
thoritative in  their  way  as  the  teachings 
of  great  students  and  thinkers  are  in  mat* 


TOM  DEFENDS  THE  FAITH.         2$  I 

ters  of  science  and  material  philosophy. 
The  spiritual  teachers  too,  deal  with  truth, 
and  are  nearer  to  its  source  than  scien- 
tists and  philosophers. 

"  Starting  with  this  consciousness  of 
the  spiritual  nature  of  the  soul,  and  its 
needs  and  relationships,  and  accepting 
the  teachings  in  regard  to  it  of  those 
who  have  had  the  deepest  and  loftiest 
conceptions  of  that  side  of  man's  nature 
and  life,  it  is  a  natural  and,  it  seems  to 
me,  a  necessary  inference  that  we  have  a 
destiny  above  and  beyond  this  life.  You 
cannot  prove  it  from  scientific  knowledge 
and  reasoning,  but  convictions  that  spring 
from  the  spiritual  side  may  be  founded 
in  deeper  truth  than  science  and  phi- 
losophy have  yet  reached.  Indeed,  the 
keenest  reasoning  of  the  old  philosophers, 
like  Plato  and  Socrates,  tended  to  the 
same  conclusions.  If  we  are  made  for 
another  and  a  higher  life  than  this,  then 
we  must  have  a  Maker  who  had  designs 
in  creating  us  and  in  preparing  the  human 
race  for  its  destiny,  and  we  are  justified 
in  believing  in  his  infinite  power  and  wis- 
dom and  goodness  and  in  his  absolute 


252    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

righteousness,  though  none  of  us  is  ca- 
pable of  fully  understanding  his  designs 
and  the  methods  by  which  they  are 
wrought  out.  We  have  ground  enough 
for  faith  and  for  accepting  those  teach- 
ings which  tell  us  that  God  is  our  Father, 
that  he  watches  over  us  and  directs  the 
course  of  things  in  a  way  that  is  righteous 
altogether  and  that  his  providence  is  over 
every  person,  over  the  whole  race  and 
over  the  universe.  My  belief  in  that 
does  not  come  from  the  study  of  nature 
and  of  history,  but  from  the  soul  and  its 
consciousness,  with  the  aid  of  spiritual 
teachings  from  those  who  seem  to  me  to 
have  the  deepest  and  closest  relation  with 
things  spiritual. 

"  Then,  accepting  as  I  do,  without  any 
question  of  what  science  and  reason  may 
teach,  this  one  doctrine  of  the  spiritual 
life  and  destiny  of  man  and  his  relation 
to  a  paternal  and  beneficent  Deity, — 
which  seems  to  me  to  be  quite  apart  from 
the  province  of  science  and  reason, — all 
the  rest  seems  easy  enough.  That  is,  it 
seems  natural  and  rational  that  there 
should  have  been  a  progressive  revela- 


TOM  DEFENDS  THE  FAITH.         2$$ 

tion  to  man  of  his  relation  to  the  Creator, 
his  duties  in  this  life,  and  his  final  des- 
tiny. No  doubt  the  understanding  of 
the  revelation  was  imperfect  when  it  was 
made  and  is  imperfect  yet,  and  the  task 
was  imposed  upon  the  race  of  working 
out  its  own  salvation.  I  cannot  see  that 
it  is  inconsistent  with  any  scientific  theory 
of  evolution  and  development,  that  the 
processes  of  creation  and  of  the  perfec- 
tion of  the  human  race  should  have  been 
ordained  by  such  a  Deity  as  Christians 
believe  in,  and  that  he  should,  in  the 
course  of  human  development,  have  made 
revelations  of  himself  to  men  in  such 
ways  as  they  were  ready  to  apprehend. 
When,  according  to  his  plan  of  perfecting 
the  race,  it  had  reached  a  certain  stage  of 
development,  why  should  he  not  select  a 
people  in  which  to  plant  and  nourish  the 
germs  of  a  true  conception  of  himself  and 
of  sound  principles  of  conduct?  It  was  a 
part  of  the  Divine  scheme  that  the  race 
should  grow  and  struggle  forward  and 
upward. 

"  It  is  a  petty  notion  that  an  all-wise  and 
beneficent  God  would  of  necessity  make 


254  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

the  race  perfect  all  at  once  and  keep  it 
in  a  state  of  Elysian  happiness ;  that, 
having  brought  it  into  being  on  the  face 
of  the  earth  amid  the  elemental  forces, 
he  should  preserve  it  from  calamity,  im- 
plant in  it  only  tendencies  to  good  and 
to  happiness,  and  make  a  full  and  unmis- 
takable revelation  of  himself  at  once. 
The  actual  plan,  so  far  as  we  can  under- 
stand it,  seems  to  me  much  more  divine. 
Why,  then,  in  the  course  of  human  de- 
velopment should  not  the  beginnings  of 
revelation  have  been  made  to  the  founders 
of  Israel,  carried  further  through  the 
Egyptian  bondage  and  deliverance,  ex- 
panded and  exalted  through  the  history 
of  the  Kings  and  the  teachings  of  the 
prophets,  and  finally,  through  the  contact 
of  Israel  with  other  nations  and  the  dis- 
persion of  the  tribes,  have  prepared  the 
way  for  the  fuller  revelation  to  all  the 
world  made  through  the  Saviour  ? 

"  It  does  not  seem  to  me  irrational  to 
believe  that  this  process  of  development 
of  religious  ideas,  to  which  other  nations 
than  the  Hebrews  made  contributions 
and  which  culminated  in  Christianity, 


TOM  DEFENDS  THE  FAITH.         255 

was  in  the  strictest  sense  a  process  of 
Divine  revelation.  That  the  prevailing 
conceptions  from  time  to  time  had  the 
crudity  belonging  to  the  stage  of  intel- 
lectual and  moral  progress  of  the  people 
does  not  derogate  from  this  theory,  it 
seems  to  me.  Revelation  was  made  so 
far  as  man  was  prepared  for  it,  and  the 
result  had  the  imperfections  of  his  capac- 
ities and  was  subject  to  the  misconcep- 
tions to  which  the  existing  stage  of  hu- 
man progress  made  it  liable.  The  record 
in  which  this  revelation  is  embodied  and 
preserved  has  the  characteristics  of  the 
people,  through  whom  and  by  whom  that 
record  was  made,  and  of  the  state  of  in- 
tellectual and  moral  progress  which  they 
had  attained.  Notions  that  have  been 
held  sometimes  and  by  some  people  as 
to  inspiration  may  not  be  sound ;  but 
that  God  in  his  infinite  wisdom  and  prov- 
idence made  the  revelation  of  his  will 
through  a  people  chosen  for  the  purpose, 
working  it  out  in  their  experience  and 
causing  it  to  be  preserved  in  their  records 
and  literature,  does  not  seem  to  me  to 
be  an  unreasonable  thing  to  believe,  and 


256  MIDNIGH7"  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

it  does  seem  to  me  to  be  well  supported 
by  evidence  and  argument.  I  can  regard 
this  revelation  and  this  record  as  Divine 
and  authoritative  so  far  as  they  go,  not- 
withstanding any  imperfection  in  the 
teachings  and  conduct  and  writings  of 
the  people  through  whom  the  process  was 
wrought  out.  I  am  not  to  expect  the 
scientific  knowledge,  the  moral  and  social 
advancement,  or  the  philosophic  spirit 
that  came  ages  later  on  in  the  develop- 
ment of  humanity. 

"  It  seems  to  me  clear  that  the  world 
had  been  prepared  not  only  by  the  ex- 
perience of  the  Jews  and  the  share  of 
Divine  revelation  made  through  them, 
but  by  developments  among  other  peoples, 
for  the  great  revelation  that  came  in  the 
person  of  Jesus  Christ.  It  seems  to  me 
that  God  had  been  slowly — as  it  appears 
to  our  conceptions  of  time — bringing  the 
world  to  a  condition  for  this  grand  step, 
and  then  at  the  right  time  and  in  the 
right  way  he  raised  up  a  Saviour  for  the 
race. 

"  Then,  as  I  accept  the  theory  of  a  Di- 
vine plan  and  Divine  oversight  from  first 


TOM  DEFENDS  THE  FAITH.         2 57 

to  last,  I  find  no  difficulty  in  accepting 
what  are  called  miracles.  I  do  not  see 
why,  in  bringing  into  the  world  the 
teacher  whom  the  world  needed  and  was 
ready  for,  who  was  to  stand  in  all  after 
ages  as  the  type  of  perfection  in  human 
character,  who  was  to  have  the  spiritual 
insight  and  wisdom  to  reveal  to  men  the 
mystery  of  this  life  and  give  assurance  of 
a  life  to  come,  in  which  good  would  be 
rewarded  and  evil  punished,  and  to  de- 
monstrate immortality — I  do  not  see 
why,  I  say,  God  should  not  have  caused 
this  Saviour's  birth  by  the  creative  power 
of  which  we  have  so  many  evidences, 
without  an  earthly  father,  why  He  should 
not  exercise  supernatural  powers  through 
him  to  convince  the  people  for  all  time 
of  his  Divine  character  and  mission,  and 
even  raise  him  visibly  from  the  dead  to 
settle  all  doubts  of  a  life  beyond  the 
grave.  I  believe  these  things,  not  simply 
because  the  Church  teaches  them  and  the 
record  contains  them,  but  to  me  they 
seem  reasonable  and  in  accordance  with  a 
truly  Divine  method  of  bringing  the  hu- 
man race  to  salvation  and  ultimate  per- 


2$8  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

fection.  With  such  study  as  I  am  able 
to  give  the  matter,  it  is  easier  to  believe 
this  than  not  to  believe  it ;  and  it  seems 
to  me  to  afford  a  much  more  satisfactory 
explanation  of  religious  history  than 
science  and  philosophical  criticism  can 
give. 

"  With  the  Christian  revelation,  follow- 
ing and  completing  the  Hebrew  revela- 
tion, the  human  race  had  a  sufficient 
ground  upon  which  to  work  out  its  spirit- 
ual problems,  and  it  has  been  engaged 
upon  this  ever  since,  and  will  be  engaged 
upon  it  doubtless  for  ages  to  come.  It 
had  direct  revelation  enough  to  proceed 
upon  safely.  This  might  need  continual 
study.  It  might  be  subject  to  different 
interpretations  and  be  imperfectly  under- 
stood ;  and  so  it  happens  that  religious 
teaching  and  Christian  belief,  and  even 
forms  and  manners  of  worship,  have  been 
a  matter  of  progress,  and  may  still  be  so. 
But  I  believe  the  more  progress  we 
make,  the  more  clearly  we  apprehend  the 
truths  of  nature,  the  truths  of  history,  the 
truths  of  revelation,  and  the  truth  regard- 
ing the  spiritual  nature  of  man,  the  more 


TOM  DEFENDS  THE  FAITH.         259 

firmly  established  will  be  the  basis  of 
faith  in  the  fatherhood  of  God,  the  di- 
vine character  of  Christ  and  his  Gospel, 
and  all  that  is  essential  in  Christian  doc- 
trine. 

"You  will  see  plainly  enough  that  in 
studying  and  thinking  for  my  part  in 
to-night's  programme  I  have  been  forced 
a  good  deal  from  the  ground  which  I  sup- 
posed myself  to  hold ;  that  is,  I  am  com- 
pelled to  shift  somewhat  my  point  of 
view  and  take  things  in  a  new  light.  At 
first,  I  was  much  troubled  in  mind  by  the 
bearings  of  your  talks  about  Scripture, 
the  Church,  inspiration,  and  so  forth ; 
but  I  think  the  disturbance  was  a  good 
thing  for  me,  after  all,  and  I  feel  myself 
regaining  my  foothold.  My  confidence 
in  things  which  I  had  accepted  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course  without  thinking  much  about 
them  was  giving  way ;  but  you  have 
enlarged  my  field  of  vision,  and  aroused 
me  to  do  some  thinking  on  my  own 
account ;  and  while  my  ideas  have  been 
taking  a  new  form,  I  feel  sure  that  in  my 
own  mind  they  are  to  be  substantially 
confirmed  in  the  end. 


260    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

u  I  accept  freely  and  confidently  the 
idea  that  God's  providence  extends  and 
always  did  extend  over  all  the  earth  and 
all  its  people,  and  that  his  revelation 
appears  in  all  history  and  all  human 
experience,  but  that  does  not  prevent  me 
from  seeing  a  special  revelation  to  man 
through  the  religion  of  the  ancient  He- 
brews and  the  birth,  teachings,  and  death 
of  Jesus,  or  from  regarding  the  record  con- 
taining it  as  divine  and  therefore  sacred. 
Without  regard  to  theories  about  inspira- 
tion, I  think  God  took  care  to  have  the 
revelation  of  his  will  duly  made  as  hu- 
manity developed  and  advanced,  and 
duly  recorded  and  preserved  for  the  per- 
petual guidance  and  benefit  of  the  race. 
After  thinking  the  matter  all  over,  I  still 
find  my  own  faith  unshaken." 


At  the  end  of  this  discourse,  which  had 
more  spirit  and  eloquence  than  I  have 
been  able  to  reproduce,  the  little  com- 
pany applauded  Tom,  to  the  astonish- 
ment of  loungers  in  the  neighboring 
room,  even  the  Colonel  joining  in  with  a 
grim  smile. 


TOM  DEFENDS  THE  FAITH.         26 1 

"  Well  done,  my  boy ! "  said  the 
Judge.  "I  guess  we  may  as  well  drop 
the  subject  now." 

"  O  no,  my  dear  sir,"  Tom  replied, 
warmly.  "  You  must  sum  up  the  conclu- 
sion of  the  whole  matter  and  tell  us 
what  you  think  of  the  Colonel's  views 
and  mine.  I  am  curious  to  hear  what 
you  have  to  say." 

"  All  right,  if  you  insist  upon  it.  I 
suppose  that  was  implied  in  the  agree- 
ment." And  the  Judge,  after  some  little 
delay,  undertook  to  restore  his  lines  so 
far  as  they  had  been  deranged. 


XVII. 

THE     JUDGE      PLEADS     FOR     UNIVERSAL 
TOLERATION  AND   ENLIGHTENMENT. 

I  CANNOT  pretend  to  give  the  exact 
language  of  the  Judge's  final  discourse  in 
the  symposium  of  "  Owls,"  and  it  is  use- 
less to  attempt  to  convey  any  adequate 
idea  of  his  peculiar  earnestness  of  manner. 
I  can  only  fall  back  upon  the  formula  of 
the  newspaper  reporters  and  declare, 
with  more  truth  than  sometimes  charac- 
terizes their  assertions,  that  he  spoke 
"  substantially  as  follows  :  " 

"  I  do  not  wish  to  repeat  or  to  modify 
any  views  that  I  have  heretofore  ex- 
pressed. My  individual  opinions  are  of 
no  special  importance,  and  what  I  wish 
to  see  is  not  their  acceptance,  but  a 
universal  toleration  of  differences  of  opin- 
ion among  honest  and  earnest  people, 
and  especially  among  people  of  a  devout 
and  religious  turn,  and  a  general  co-op- 


A  PLEA  FOR  TOLERATION.          263 

eration  in  the  one  great  purpose  of  all 
religion — the  elevation  and  improvement 
of  mankind.  That,  it  seems  to  me,  is 
the  real,  the  practical  meaning  of  the 
salvation  of  men.  Men  need  to  be  saved 
from  sin — that  is,  from  the  evil  tenden- 
cies of  human  nature  and  their  own 
selfish  and  degrading  desires — and  raised 
to  higher  conceptions  of  life  and  better 
conduct.  That  is  the  true  work  of  salva- 
tion ;  and  whether  it  looks  beyond  this 
life  or  not  makes  no  serious  difference 
as  to  what  needs  to  be  done.  That 
which  is  best  for  man  here  below  in  the 
highest  sense  is  surely  that  which  will 
best  fit  him  for  any  life  for  which  he 
may  be  destined.  The  best  that  can  be 
done  to  elevate  and  purify  human  charac- 
ter and  conduct  in  this  world  is  the  best 
that  can  be  done  to  prepare  souls  for  a 
higher  life. 

"  It  seems  to  me  that  all  religions  which 
rise  above  gross  superstition,  and  all 
devout  men,  are  really  agreed  upon  those 
things  that  are  essential.  The  nearer 
they  come  to  truth  the  more  they  are  in 
harmony.  Differences  in  belief  necessa- 


264    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

rily  indicate  distance  from  truth,  varying 
in  direction.  Multiplicity  of  sects  only 
shows  how  far  we  are  from  the  common 
ground  of  absolute  truth :  as  they 
approach  that  ground  their  differences 
must  diminish ;  and  if  they  reach  it  the 
differences  must  disappear.  Differences 
of  belief  that  produce  so  many  sects  are 
founded  on  dogmas  and  doctrines,  and 
these  are  only  so  many  indexes  of  error, 
or  of  distance  from  truth,  which  is  nec- 
essarily consistent  -with  itself.  But  all 
the  lines  converge  to  the  central  light. 

"All  believers  are  wandering  in  the 
same  misty  wilderness  with  the  same 
type  of  compass,  but  with  needles  de- 
flected all  sorts  of  ways  by  disturbing 
influences.  The  efforts  of  mankind  in 
their  progress  are  to  clear  away  the 
mists,  to  get  visible  landmarks,  and  to 
correct  the  variations  of  the  compass. 
Creeds  and  doctrines  have  served  good 
purpose  as  charts  in  the  past,  but  they 
should  be  subject  to  constant  correction. 
To  cling  to  those  of  the  old  explorers 
just  because  they  are  old,  is  to  remain  in 
error.  They  have  been  used  so  long  now 


A  PLEA  FOR  TOLERATION.          265 

that  radical  corrections  are  needed.  We 
have  learned  so  much  in  the  past  hun- 
dred years  that  to  hold  to  these  creeds  is 
like  sailing  by  Mercator's  charts. 

"  For  my  own  part  I  accept  immortal- 
ity and  the  life  to  come,  for  otherwise  I 
can  find  no  adequate  explanation  of  this 
life  and  of  the  existence  of  what  we 
mean  by  the  soul  in  man.  I  accept  the 
general  idea  of  a  beneficent  Creator  of 
the  universe  and  Father  of  mankind,  for 
otherwise  I  can  find  no  adequate  explana- 
tion of  the  existence  of  the  universe  and 
of  mankind.  There  is  revelation  enough 
in  nature  as  explored  by  science,  in  his- 
tory as  explored  by  philosophy,  and  in 
man  himself  as  explored  by  reason,  to 
sustain  that  much  of  belief  for  me. 

"  And  that  is  about  all  there  is  essen- 
tial to  any  or  all  religion.  The  doctrines 
and  dogmas  built  all  over  the  funda- 
mental basis  of  religion  come  from  the 
efforts  of  men  to  interpret,  to  explain 
and  to  support  their  faith,  and  to  bring 
others  to  accept  it  and  live  by  it ;  and 
the  variations  of  doctrine  are  but  the 
measure  of  the  error  that  is  in  it.  Old 


266    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

conceptions  were  crude,  old  beliefs  were 
necessarily  made  up  largely  of  ignorance 
and  superstition,  because  the  minds  that 
entertained  them  had  not  the  means  of 
enlightenment.  Ormuzd  and  Ahriman, 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  the  Devil,  were  the 
Dr.  Jekyll  and  Mr.  Hyde  of  old  theolo- 
gies. To-day  the  struggle  between  good 
and  evil  needs  no  personifications.  Sci- 
ence has  abolished  the  heaven  and  hell 
of  Christian  mythology,  because  the  blue 
dome  of  Olympus  has  been  dissolved  into 
the  vast  depths  of  the  sky,  and  geology 
leaves  no  place  for  the  mysterious  under- 
world realm  of  Sheol  or  of  Hades.  The 
region  is  occupied  by  elemental  fires  fed 
by  the  ingredients  of  the  earth's  crust, 
and  not  by  departed  souls.  And  yet 
Oriental  tropes  and  the  visions  of  saints 
need  not  petrify  for  all  time  our  ideas  of 
future  existence.  The  universe  has  space 
enough  for  all  the  souls  that  may  have 
animated  all  the  races  of  its  innumerable 
worlds.  How  do  we  know  but  that  on 
other  planets  and  in  other  solar  systems 
the  problems  of  life  and  death  may  have 
been  carried  much  nearer  their  last  solu- 


A  PLEA  FOR  TOLERATION.  267 

tion  than  we  have  been  able  to  reach, 
with  our  realms  of  darkness  in  Africa 
and  Oceanica  and  our  slums  in  London 
and  New  York? 

"  As  to  future  reward  and  punishment, 
must  not  the  soul  carry  that  with  it 
wherever  it  goes?  Is  happiness  or  mis- 
ery a  question  of  place,  in  this  world  or 
any  other  world  ? 

"  I  agree  with  the  view  that  religious 
faith  may  be  just  as  earnest  and  just  as 
efficacious  for  the  time  if  founded  in  de- 
lusion as  if  founded  in  truth  ;  but  not  if 
the  delusion  is  conscious.  I  would  not 
try  to  keep  up  delusion  knowing  it  to  be 
such  or  consciously  make  use  of  it  even 
to  'save  souls.'  Hypocrisy  is  hateful 
and  can  produce  no  good  results.  I  do 
not  think  light  is  hurtful  except  to  nox- 
ious things,  or  knowledge  dangerous  to 
anything  but  evil.  Help  people  to  know 
and  to  think,  and  you  lead  them  toward 
safety.  Any  religious  system  that  de- 
pends on  shutting  the  mind  from  light  and 
restraining  the  action  of  reason  is  supersti- 
tion. It  is  built  not  upon  bedrock,  but 
upon  rotting  piles  in  a  sweltering  morass. 


268    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

"  My  objection  to  the  theory  of  a  spe- 
cial revelation  running  through  the  his- 
tory of  one  people,  imbedded  in  their 
literature  and  revived  and  embodied  in 
one  system  of  religious  belief,  is  that  it 
does  not  accord  with  a  wide  understand- 
ing and  a  profound  view  of  the  facts. 
Advancing  knowledge  and  searching 
criticism  will  not  sustain  it ;  and  there  is 
loss  in  contending  for  an  untenable  posi- 
tion. 

"  In  a  sense,  the  Jews  were  a  '  chosen 
people/  just  as  other  races  were,  because 
they  had  a  special  genius  and  accom- 
plished a  peculiar  work.  Whether  you  call 
it  '  Divine  Providence  '  or  '  natural  selec- 
tion '  makes  no  difference  :  the  fact  re- 
mains that,  for  instance,  the  Greeks  were 
gifted  with  a  surpassing  genius  for  philos- 
ophy and  art :  the  Romans  were  endowed 
with  an  all-embracing  power  of  organized 
regulation  and  the  compelling  of  human 
and  material  forces  to  practical  ends  ;  and 
so  the  Hebrews,  in  spite  of  the  crudities 
of  their  conceptions,  had  a  genius  for  re- 
ligion, which  enabled  them  to  produce  a 
series  of  prophets  and  teachers,  uttering 


A  PLEA  FOR  TOLERATION.  269 

germinal  truths  that  have  lived  and  borne 
fruit  in  man's  elevation,  far  beyond  those 
issuing  from  any  other  one  nation. 

"But  the  truths  of  religious  senti- 
ment are  only  one  part  of  man's  nature, 
and  God  has  wrought  upon  man  in 
multifarious  ways.  The  theory  of  Provi- 
dence and  revelation  must  needs  take  in 
all  nature,  all  history  and  experience, 
and  all  attainable  philosophy.  Then  will 
it  be  strengthened  by  advancing  knowl- 
edge and  exploring  reason,  and  not 
weakened. 

"  I  do  not  contend  for  any  restriction 
upon  belief  or  unbelief.  I  would  not 
interfere  with  any  form  of  faith  that  men 
find  satisfying  to  their  souls.  I  would 
merely  open  wide  the  temple-doors  and 
proclaim  liberty  to  all  the  world.  I 
would  invite  people  to  search  for  the 
truth  with  all  the  light  the  heavens  can 
give.  Make  Science  and  Knowledge  and 
Reason  the  handmaidens  of  Religion,  and 
give  leave  to  every  man  to  see  by  the 
best  light  he  can  get.  I  am  confident 
that  the  cause  of  virtue  and  morality,  the 
cause  of  man's  salvation,  will  be  the 


2/O     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

gainer  by  it,  and  that  the  *  kingdom  of 
heaven  '  will  be  advanced. 

"  If  the  Christian  Church  could  be 
purged  of  its  '  creeds  outworn,'  of  its 
fossilized  dogmas  and  its  mummified  for- 
malisms, if  its  windows  could  be  opened 
to  the  light  of  the  universe,  its  sects 
would  fuse  and  coalesce,  and  there  is  no 
reason  why  it  should  'not  draw  to  itself 
a  great  vitalizing  force  that  is  now  ex- 
cluded. Let  men  believe  what  they  must, 
but  do  not  compel  them  to  believe  what 
they  cannot,  with  the  alternative  of  being 
excluded  from  the  company  of  those  who 
are  striving  together  to  do  better,  to  be 
better,  and  to  make  the  world  better, 
You  cannot  force  them  to  believe,  and 
to  make  them  pretend  to  believe  '  is  not 
and  cannot  come  to  good.'  The  policy  of 
insisting  upon  the  old  doctrines  is  mak- 
ing hypocrites  and  not  saints.  When  we 
see  men  of  sanctified  professions  serving 
mammon  in  business  and  in  public  life 
and  belying  every  requirement  of  their 
professed  faith,  we  must  conclude  that 
there  is  no  real  vitality  in  their  religion. 
They  are  bringing  deep  discredit  on  what 


A  PLEA  FOR  TOLERATION.          2*]\ 

they  call  the  '  cause  of  Christ/  Christ 
would  repudiate  and  denounce  them  as 
the  Pharisees  of  this  age. 

"  If  we  could  break  down  the  trammels 
of  antiquated  creeds  and  revive  the  Jesus 
of  history  from  the  petrifaction  of  ages 
to  a  living  reality  in  the  minds  of  men, 
there  would  be  a  new  era  in  the  con- 
quests of  religious  faith. 

"  What  greater  inspiration  is  needed 
than  the  life  and  teachings  and  the  su- 
preme sacrifice  of  One  absolutely  sinless 
and  unselfish  Man  ?  It  is  the  ideal  of 
the  aspirations  of  the  race.  It  would  be 
a  mighty  attraction  to  all  that  is  best  in 
human  nature,  a  regenerating  force  for 
all  mankind,  while  the  old  exclusive  dog- 
mas become  more  and  more  repellent  as 
the  race  advances  in  enlightenment.  By 
opening  wide  the  doors  and  throwing 
down  the  ancient  barriers  the  best  talent, 
the  highest  character,  and  the  most  ear- 
nest zeal  could  be  brought  into  the 
Church  to  aid  in  the  work  of  redeeming 
the  race  from  the  powers  of  darkness, 
whereas  now  they  are  largely  excluded. 

"  Moreover,  it  would  be  far   easier   to 


2/2     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

reach  the  hearts  of  men.  They  would 
be  asked  to  know,  to  reason,  and  to 
understand,  and  could  be  led  to  see  that 
purity  of  life  and  right  action  bring  their 
own  reward,  and  mighty  influences  could 
be  applied  to  help  them  in  the  struggle 
against  the  powers  of  evil  within  and 
without.  The  best  part  of  society  would 
be  turned  into  an  educating  and  elevat- 
ing force  for  the  worst  part,  and  one  day 
in  the  week  could  be  devoted  to  a  real 
work  of  salvation  among  men.  Three 
generations  of  this  kind  of  Christianity, 
working  with  all  the  resources  of  knowl- 
edge and  reason  and  with  the  ardor  of 
intellectual  liberty  and  moral  zeal,  would 
transform  the  face  of  human  society  and 
give  civilization  an  advance  greater  than 
it  has  known  in  all  the  time  since  the 
Dark  Ages.  With  the  inculcation  of  a 
broad  charity  and  a  spirit  of  the  genuine 
brotherhood  of  man  it  might  abolish  all 
slums  and  sinks  of  iniquity,  practically 
exterminate  crime  and  pauperism,  and 
dispel  the  deep  shadows  of  ignorance  and 
poverty. 

"  I  do  not  contend  for  any  creeds  of 


A  PLEA  FOX  TOLERATION.          2/3 

negation,  any  formal  denial  of  things 
that  have  been  believed  or  that  men  find 
it  necessary  to  believe.  I  only  plead  for 
liberty  of  thought  and  freedom  of  belief, 
of  honesty  in  teaching  and  in  preaching, 
and  the  discarding  of  those  metes  and 
bounds  that  antiquated  dogmas  have  set 
up,  which  keep  out  of  the  great  organ- 
ization of  the  Christian  Church  much 
of  the  best  talent,  the  best  learning, 
and,  in  a  great  degree,  the  best  religious 
spirit  of  the  age.  Many  give  a  formal 
adhesion  to  creeds  which  they  do  not 
really  believe  in,  for  the  sake  of  not  being 
excluded ;  but  it  is  a  compromise  with 
conscience  that  savors  of  hypocrisy. 
Souls  of  resolute  honesty  will  not  do 
this,  and  they  are  branded  as  unbelievers, 
even  as  infidels,  though  they  be  the  salt 
of  the  earth.  As  a  consequence,  '  in- 
fidel  *  is  ceasing  to  be  a  term  of  oppro- 
brium, and  may  become  one  of  honor, 
while  membership  in  a  church  ceases  to 
be  accepted  as  a  guarantee  of  good  char- 
acter. Let  us  not  forget  that  Jesus  was 
hounded  to  death  by  the  religious  leaders 
of  the  Jews  because  he  '  stirred  up  the 


274    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

people  '  with  teaching  new  interpretations 
of  the  ancient  creed,  and  that  Paul  and 
Silas  hardly  escaped  the  same  fate  at  the 
hands  of  their  own  countrymen  because 
they  '  turned  the  world  upside  down ' 
with  the  same  pestilent  heresies.  Is  it 
not  time  that  the  world  learned  from 
experience  not  to  *  stone  the  proph- 
ets?' 

"  For  the  sake  of  the  power  and  in- 
fluence of  the  Christian  Church  I  would 
like  to  see  it  cast  off  the  trammels  of  old 
superstitions  and  of  doctrines  sanctioned 
only  by  imperfect  knowledge  and  imper- 
fect thinking  and  sanctified  only  by  time 
and  tradition.  The  sanctifying  processes 
of  time  are  inverted,  and  the  inexperience 
of  the  race  is  placed  above  its  experi- 
ence, its  ignorance  above  its  knowledge, 
its  credulity  above  its  reason.  Not  only 
would  the  widening  of  the  limits  of  the 
Church  by  clearing  away  the  old  barriers 
of  crumbling  creeds  bring  in  a  mighty 
force  now  excluded,  but  it  would  bring 
the  Church  into  closer  contact  with  the 
mass  of  humanity  that  needs  to  be 
reclaimed  from  ignorance  and  from  in- 


A  PLEA  FOR  TOLERATION-.          2?$ 

iquity,  and  would  set  new  and  power- 
ful agencies  at  work  for  the  regeneration 
of  society. 

"  Powerful  as  is  delusion,  persistent  as  is 
superstition,  obstinate  as  is  credulity,  I 
believe  the  day  has  come  in  the  progress 
of  civilization,  when  the  old  system  of 
promises  and  threats,  whose  fulfilment 
depended  on  belief  or  unbelief  in  things 
incredible,  has  lost  its  power,  and  when 
knowledge  and  reason,  sympathy  and 
help,  are  the  proper  weapons  with  which 
to  carry  on  the  conquests  of  salvation  for 
the  human  race.  I  am  not  for  tearing 
down  nor  for  building  up,  but  for  recog- 
nizing growth  and  progress,  and  allowing 
the  old  and  dead  material  to  slough  off 
and  go  to  decay  instead  of  trying  to 
plaster  and  bind  it  on  in  an  ineffectual 
effort  to  put  a  stop  to  growth  and  vital 
development. 

"  Universal  toleration  and  enlighten- 
ment and  the  co-operation  of  all  devout 
and  earnest  souls  in  the  work  of  salvation 
in  this  world  is  what  I  would  like  to  see, 
confident  that,  whatever  may  be  the 
destiny  of  man  in  another  life,  this  would 


276    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

be  the  most  effectual  means  of  insuring 
his  eternal  well-being." 


I  have  failed  to  give  any  adequate  idea 
of  the  Judge's  farewell  discourse,  but  I 
have  struggled  with  my  memory  and  my 
scrappy  and  illegible  notes  to  the  best  of 
my  ability.  I  have  the  comfort  of  know- 
ing that  if  he  ever  sees  what  I  have  writ- 
ten it  will  be  some  months  before  he  can 
call  me  to  account,  and  by  that  time  he 
will  probably  not  think  it  worth  while. 

With  this  final  religious  symposium  our 
midnight  gatherings  are  broken  up,  and 
I  do  not  know  that  they  will  ever  be 
renewed.  Even  if  they  are,  I  shall  prob- 
ably forsake  this  impertinent  function  of 
"  giving  away"  what  is  said,  and  content 
myself  with  being  merely  an  edified  lis- 
tener. 


XVIII. 

TOM    GETS    SOME    WORDS    OF    COMFORT 
FROM   THE    JUDGE. 

IT  must  have  been  fully  five  months 
after  the  Judge's  departure  for  Europe, — 
when  vacation  trips  and  summer  diversions 
were  past,  and  we  were  all  settled  down 
for  the  working  season,  to  what  the  offi- 
cial proclamations  used  to  call  our  "  cus- 
tomary avocations," — that  I  met  Tom 
Benedict  at  the  Club  late  one  Saturday 
night,  and  asked  him  what  he  had  heard 
from  his  old  friend.  For  my  part  I  had 
sweltered  through  the  summer,  when 
others  of  our  circle  were  diverting  them- 
selves, and  had  been  away  in  the  early 
weeks  of  the  autumn  upon  my  own  "  bus- 
iness and  desire,"  such  as  it  was.  Tom 
replied  that  the  Judge  had  been  detained 
abroad  longer  than  he  had  expected  and 
would  not  return  for  some  time  yet. 

"  But,"  he  said,  "  I  have  lately  had  a 


2/8  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

long  letter  from  him,  the  longest,  I  will 
venture  to  say,  of  a  merely  personal  char- 
acter, that  he  ever  wrote.  You  remem- 
ber that  religious  discussion  we  carried 
on  here  last  spring  in  the  small  hours  of 
Saturday  nights?  Well,  the  fact  is,  I 
couldn't  get  it  out  of  my  head.  In  the 
summer  I  was  all  the  time  thinking  about 
those  questions  and  reading  up  on  them 
and  trying  to  settle  them  to  my  satisfac- 
tion ;  for,  although  at  our  last  symposium 
I  thought  I  had  got  myself  all  straight- 
ened out,  I  found  that  it  was  not  alto- 
gether so.  But  ti.e  more  I  read  and 
thought,  the  more  unsettled  I  seemed  to 
get ;  and  at  last  in  sheer  desperation  I 
concluded  to  write  a  long  letter  to  the 
Judge  about  my  'state  of  mind.'  I  sent 
it  to  his  Paris  address  but  it  reached  him 
at  Amalfi,  where,  he  says,  it  caught  him 
while  indulging  in  a  spell  of  '  loafing  and 
inviting  his  soul '  in  the  quaint  and  pic- 
turesque old  monastery  there,  a  portion 
of  which  has  been  turned  into  a  sort  of 
hostelry  for  far-wandering  tourists.  It 
was  lucky  my  screed  did  catch  him  there, 
for  if  he  had  had  anything  to  do  but 


WORDS  OF  COMFORT.  2/Q 

'  loaf  and  invite  his  soul/  I  should  never 
have  got  that  long  letter  from  him.  Come 
up  to  the  house  to-morrow  night,  and  I 
will  show  it  to  you." 

So,  on  Sunday  evening  I  once  more 
invaded  Tom's  sanctified  domicile, — sanc- 
tified, I  mean,  by  the  Sabbath-intensify- 
ing presence  of  his  wife,  who  struck  me, 
however,  as  gradually  acquiring  a  little 
more  of  a  this-world  air  and  manner. 
The  subtle  barrier  between  us  didn't 
seem  to  be  quite  so  impenetrable  as  for- 
merly ;  but  the  letter  was  the  main  ob- 
ject of  my  quest.  I  read  it  with  a  great 
deal  of  interest,  and  got  Tom's  permission 
to  bring  away  a  copy  of  such  parts  of  it 
as  I  wished. 

The  writer  made  scant  reference  to 
his  travels  and  his  business,  but  was  al- 
lured into  a  brief  description  of  the 
soothing  charms  of  his  "  loafing  "  place. 
The  main  purpose  of  the  letter,  however, 
was  to  respond  to  Tom's  anxious  ques- 
tionings. Tom  did  not  himself  enlarge 
upon  these  to  me,  and  I  was  left  to  sur- 
mise them  from  the  Judge's  reply.  I 
determined  with  Tom's  consent,  which  he 


280    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

granted  with  some  misgiving  as  to  the 
propriety  of  the  course,  to  supplement 
my  reports  of  those  midnight  discussions 
with  some  extracts  from  this  letter.  I 
may  as  well  assume  that  the  reader  has 
as  much  acumen  in  inferring  the  na- 
ture of  the  questionings  from  the  char- 
acter of  the  response,  as  I  had  to  exercise, 
and  leave  him  to  the  same  liberty  of  sur- 
mise. 

A  good  deal  of  the  letter  had  direct 
reference  to  Tom's  troubles  of  mind  over 
the  theological  doctrines  and  questions 
which  had  been  the  subject  of  the  Club 
talks,  and  presented  in  a  connected,  con- 
cise and  lucid  way  the  substance  of  the 
Judge's  "  views,"  as  previously  indicated, 
but  the  passages  which  seem  to  me  worth 
quoting  as  a  supplement  to  the  "  talks  " 
are  those  which  follow : 

"  Now,  my  dear  Tom,  nothing  could 
be  further  from  my  wish  than  to  unsettle 
the  religious  faith  of  any  man.  I  only 
want  to  see  faith  brought  into  conformity 
with  knowledge  and  reason,  which  alone 
can  afford  a  solid  and  enduring  basis  for 
it.  While  growing  out  of  earlier  stocks, 


WORDS  OF  COMFORT.  28 1 

it  ought  to  have  the  vitality  of  the  pres- 
ent age  in  it,  advancing  with  knowledge 
and  the  results  of  reason,  and  not  be  a 
petrified  heritage  of  the  past,  shaped 
largely  by  ignorance  and  superstition. 
We  have  a  continuous  *  revelation '  and 
we  ought  to  have  a  continuous  *  scrip- 
ture.' Haven't  we  as  much  right  to  our 
seers  and  prophets,  our  teachers  and 
guides,  with  the  privilege  of  original 
thought  and  of  interpreting  the  Divine 
will,  as  any  ancient  people  ? 

"  I  quite  agree  with  you  as  to  those 
1  fundamentals  of  all  religious  faith,'  but 
I  do  not  quite  see  what  they  have  to  do 
with  these  controverted  doctrines  over 
which  men  have  wrangled  so  long.  I 
have  two  great  arguments  as  to  the  exist- 
ence of  God  and  the  immortality  of  the 
soul,  which  long  ago  satisfied  my  mind, 
and  I  am  quite  at  rest  on  those  ques- 
tions. There  is  one  thing  of  which  we 
have  absolute  knowledge,  and  that  is 
our  own  existence,  with  the  qualities,  ca- 
pabilities and  tendencies  of  which  we  are 
conscious,  and  which  we  see  exhibited  by 
others;  and  we  have  a  tolerably  accurate 


282    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

knowledge  of  the  things  and  conditions 
about  us.  We  can  enlarge  and  extend 
our  knowledge  indefinitely,  but  we  are 
finite  and  cannot  comprehend  everything. 
Now  I  have  right  here,  in  myself,  a  suffi- 
cient starting  point  for  a  proof  of  the 
existence  of  God,  which  is  more  conclu- 
sive to  my  mind  than  any  other.  I  can- 
not conceive  of  myself,  with  those  quali- 
ties which  we  call  intellectual,  moral  and 
spiritual,  as  existing  without  God  ;  yet 
here  I  am.  No  knowledge  of  matter  and 
force  and  no  reasoning  upon  these  can 
lead  up  to  an  explanation  of  man  and  his 
life.  This  '  piece  of  work '  must  have 
had  its  origin  with  a  creative  power  that 
had  to  an  infinite  degree  the  qualities  to 
impart  with  which  man  is  endowed. 
Otherwise,  to  me  the  origin  of  man's 
spirit  is  inconceivable  ;  and  the  one  sure 
thing  is  that  it  exists. 

"  We  cannot  altogether  '  find  out  God,' 
for  we  cannot  grasp  the  infinite ;  we 
can  only  form  conceptions,  limited  and 
shaped  by  our  knowledge  and  our  power 
of  reasoning.  I  look  upon  the  concep- 
tions of  a  Deity  as  purely  a  matter  of 


WORDS  OF  COMFORT.  283 

evolution,  varying  and  developing  from 
age  to  age.  As  I  have  often  said,  the 
God  of  Moses  is  a  different  being  from 
the  God  of  the  later  prophets,  and  of  Job, 
and  most  of  the  Psalms ;  the  God  of 
the  '  old  dispensation  *  is  quite  a  different 
being  from  the  God  '  revealed  '  in  the  New 
Testament ;  and  the  ideal  of  the  Supreme 
Divinity  has  gone  through  many  changes 
in  the  teachings  of  the  Christian  Church, 
from  primitive  times  even  until  now. 
Doubtless,  He  is  the  same,  yesterday,  to- 
day and  forever,  but  man's  conception  of 
him  is  as  multiform  as  the  degrees  of 
man's  knowledge  and  his  ignorance,  his 
superstition  and  his  wisdom. 

"  You  say  well,  that  worship  is  a  neces- 
sity of  man's  nature  in  his  struggle  for  a 
higher  life,  and  that  we  cannot  worship  an 
abstraction.  Nobody  does  worship  an 
abstraction  ;  but  everybody  who  worships 
at  all  worships  the  highest  and  best  con- 
crete conception  of  the  Deity  that  he 
can  form,  even  if  he  has  to  put  it  into 
wood  or  stone  and  make  it  visible  to  his 
eye.  I  cannot  worship  a  Being  like  that 
whom  Moses  is  said  tq  have  seen  in  a 


284     MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

burning  bush  and  who  was  supposed  to 
literally  thunder  commands  and  threats 
from  Mount  Sinai ;  who  was  '  jealous  '  of 
other  gods  that  were  assumed  in  the 
record  to  be  equally  real ;  who  was 
vengeful  against  his  enemies ;  who  '  com- 
manded '  one  people  to  slaughter  another 
and  was  placated  by  bloody  sacrifices  and 
burnt-offerings.  Neither  caa  I  worship 
the  God  to  whom  David  prayed  in  his  im- 
precatory Psalms ;  or  Him  whom  the 
prophets  represented  as  'punishing  '  Israel 
by  conquest  and  captivity,  and  promising 
restoration  and  glory  ;  or  the  Being  that 
is  represented  to  have  demonstrated  his 
justice  in  the  afflictions  of  Job.  I  find  it 
equally  difficult  to  lift  my  soul  up  to  the 
God  of  the  popes,  or  of  Calvin,  or  Mil- 
ton, or  Knox,  or  Jonathan  Edwards.  All 
these  various  '  Gods '  have  been  the  con- 
ceptions of  men  ;  and  they  differ  from 
mine.  What  I  say  is  that  we  should  use 
all  our  knowledge  and  all  our  reason  in 
forming  the  highest  conception  of  the 
Deity  that  we  can  reach,  and  the  form 
and  spirit  of  our  worship  will  be  none  the 
worse  for  it.  If  God  has  been  revealed  to 


WORDS  OF  COMFORT.  285 

us  it  is  in  our  nature  and  our  lives,  in  all 
creation  and  all  history,  and  the  revelation 
comes  through  knowledge  and  reason,  and 
is  fuller  to-day  then  ever  before.  Your 
ancient  dogmas  and  doctrines  seem  to  me 
a  feeble  support  for  a  faith  in  the  exist- 
ence of  God,  and  quite  unnecessary  to 
it. 

"  My  second  great  argument  is  for  the 
immortality  of  the  soul,  and  is  like  unto 
the  other.  It  simply  follows  from  the 
other  as  a  natural  consequence.  That  I 
exist  I  know ;  therefore  I  believe  that  I 
was  created  by  God,  whom  I  conceive  of 
as  infinite  in  power,  wisdom  and  good- 
ness. I  find  it  quite  inconsistent  with 
such  a  belief  to  accept  this  imperfect  life 
as  all  for  which  I  was  made.  I  cannot  ex- 
plain this  mundane  existence  at  all  with- 
out assuming  that  it  is  preparatory  for 
another  or  a  continued  life ;  and  on  that 
assumption  I  have  no  great  difficulty  with 
its  problems.  I  have  no  fear  of  anything 
that  science  or  research,  reason  or  philos- 
ophy, can  do  to  unsettle  these  l  funda- 
mental '  matters  in  religion.  In  fact  I 
believe  that  the  more  we  know  and  the 


286    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

more  clearly  we  think,  the  more  we  must 
be  confirmed  in  the  conviction  that  the 
existence  of  God  and  the  immortality  of 
the  soul  afford  the  only  reasonable  ex- 
planation of  things  as  they  are  ;  and 
things  as  they  are  constitute  an  argument 
which  it  is  extremely  difficult  to  get 
around. 

"  Stick,  my  boy,  to  your  '  fundamen- 
tals '  and  your  *  essentials/  but  define 
them  clearly  in  your  own  mind  and  you 
will  find  that  they  are  untouched  by  the 
warfare  waged  over  matters  of  doctrinal 
belief. 

"  The  Messianic  hopes  of  Israel  and  the 
dreams  of  apocalyptic  writers  were  woven 
by  the  founders  of  Christian  dogma  with 
the  obscure  facts  of  the  birth  of  Jesus, 
the  luminous  teachings  of  his  lips,  the 
marvellous  power  of  his  life  and  character 
as  an  example  to  mankind,  the  legends  of 
his  wonder-working,  the  appalling  stroke 
of  his  atrocious  death  at  the  hands  of 
religious  bigotry,  and  the  belief  attrib- 
uted by  tradition  to  his  devoted  fol- 
lowers that  he  had  risen  from  the  tomb 
and  ascended  into  heaven  to  prepare  for 


WORDS  OF  COMFORT.  287 

the  coming  of  his  kingdom  in  glory  upon 
the  earth.  Out  of  these  elements  was 
produced  the  mysticism  of  early  Chris- 
tianity, at  a  time  when  no  religious  sys- 
tem could  hope  to  gain  a  hold  upon 
mankind  without  mysticism.  With  the 
intellectual  and  moral  progress  of  later 
times,  this  mysticism  has  been  modified 
by  councils  and  by  teachers,  and  has 
gone  through  Protean  evolutions  to  the 
production  of  forms  of  faith  and  sects  in- 
numerable ;  and  in  the  great  body  of 
the  church  many  doctrines  that  could  by 
no  possibility  in  the  light  of  this  day  be 
deduced  from  the  record  or  the  facts, 
have  been  held  sacred  with  the  tenacity 
of  a  superstitious  conservatism. 

"  But  through  all  this  fabric  of  man- 
made  theologies  strikes  the  light  of  scien- 
tific and  critical  research,  of  knowledge 
and  reason,  in  these  waning  days  of  the 
nineteenth  century;  and  behind  the  flam- 
ing torch  of  enlightened  thought  follows 
the  plain  daylight  of  common  sense,  dis- 
persing the  owls  and  bats  of  ancient 
superstition,  the  spectres  and  hobgoblins 
of  a  distorted  faith.  But  the  expanding 


288    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

light  in  no  way  obscures  the  central 
figure  of  that  great  Teacher,  who  rose 
upon  the  world  from  the  Galilean  hamlet, 
and  in  golden  words  set  the  point  of  de- 
parture for  a  new  religion  of  humanity. 
On  the  contrary,,  it  dispels  mists  from 
around  it,  revivifies  it  from  petrifaction, 
and  makes  it  capable  of  a  new  power  for 
the  regeneration  of  the  race. 

"  '  Believe  in  me  and  ye  shall  be  saved,' 
calls  for  no  faith  in  doctrines  of  inspira- 
tion, of  future  reward  and  punishment,  of 
miraculous  birth  and  death,  of  vicarious 
atonement,  or  in  any  of  the  mystic  dog- 
mas that  were  woven  into  our  inherited 
theological  systems.  It  requires  no  ab- 
negation of  the  intellect  or  the  conscience 
of  reasoning  men.  Faith  in  that  large 
doctrine  of  the  fatherhood  of  God,  the 
brotherhood  of  man,  purity  of  life,  sacri- 
fice of  self,  and  devotion  to  the  common 
good  as  taught  by  Jesus,  can  never  be 
outgrown  by  the  human  race  ;  nor  is  the 
race  likely  to  have  a  higher  exemplar  of 
that  doctrine  to  look  up  to  than  the  mar- 
vellous Man  of  Nazareth,  who  announced 
it  with  such  confident  and  persuasive 


WORDS  OF  COMFORT.  289 

words,  and  who  died  a  victim  to  the 
unreadiness  of  his  age  to  accept  it.  The 
world  is  yet  far  from  reaching  his  ground. 
"What,  then,  is  the  Church  to  do? 
The  changing  and  revision  of  creeds  is  a 
perplexing  task.  But  there  is  no  occa- 
sion for  undertaking  it.  The  world  does 
not  want  new  creeds  devised  by  fallible 
men  to  stem  the  tide  of  progress.  It 
wants  the  'ever  open  door,'  the  ample 
page  of  knowledge  freely  spread,  the  full 
light  of  reason,  and  the  liberty  to  believe 
what  it  finds  to  be  true.  There  is  no  oc- 
casion to  dig  out  the  strata  of  the  earth's 
crust  and  to  get  rid  of  the  fossils  of  ages 
past,  in  order  to  utilize  the  fruitful  surface 
where  life  goes  on.  The  'testimony  of 
the  rocks '  is  invaluable,  as  history,  for 
instruction  in  the  present  and  guidance 
for  the  future.  Let  the  church  of  univer- 
sal humanity,  built  up  through  the  ages 
with  the  materials  that  each  age  afforded, 
open  wide  its  doors  to  all  who  seek  the 
true  and  the  good,  who  wish  to  promote 
right  conduct  in  themselves  and  others, 
and  who  desire  to  co-operate  for  the  ele- 
vation and  improvement  of  mankind ; 


290    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

and  let  no  test  for  membership  be  re- 
quired except  the  ordinary  evidences  of 
good  faith.  Leave  to  men  absolute 
liberty  to  study,  to  think,  and  to  believe 
that  only  of  which  they  are  honestly 
convinced ;  invite  them  into  church  fel- 
lowship without  mental  shackles,  and 
Christianity  will  start  into  new  and  vig- 
orous life. 

"  That  free  thinking  should  be  regarded 
as  inconsistent  with  true  religion,  is  a 
strange  anomaly  for  an  enlightened  age. 
Free  thought  is  an  essential  factor  in  true 
religion,  and  should  be  encouraged  out 
of  consideration  for  the  good  of  mankind. 
The  fullest  attainable  knowledge  of  what 
has  been  and  what  is,  the  freest  exercise 
of  the  faculties  with  which  man  has  been 
endowed,  and  the  clearest  results  of  our 
best  reasoning,  cannot  but  lead  toward 
the  everlasting  truth,  and  can  by  no  pos- 
sibility be  inconsistent  with  the  will  of 
the  Supreme  Power  of  the  universe. 

"  What  common  sense  dictates  to  the 
Christian  Church  to-day,  is  not  to  revise 
its  creeds  and  amend  its  dogmas,  but  to 
cast  off  altogether  from  them  as  a  test  of 


WORDS  OF  COMFORT.  29! 

the  fitness  of  men  to  teach  religion,  or  of 
the  right  of  men  to  associate  in  its  work 
and  share  in  its  benefits.  Let  member- 
ship depend  upon  purpose  as  shown  in 
character,  not  belief ;  and  let  the  creeds 
drift  into  the  '  dark  backward  and  abysm 
of  time/  with  the  Delphic  oracles  and 
the  mummeries  of  the  Middle  Ages. 
Let  men  learn  what  they  can  and  believe 
what  they  must  with  the  record  of  the 
past  and  the  knowledge  of  the  present  to 
aid  them. 

"What  then  would  the  Church  gain, 
and  what  would  it  become?  It  would 
gain  the  best  intellect  and  the  highest 
zeal  which  the  living  generation  can 
afford,  and  it  would  open  its  bosom  to 
the  currents  of  light  and  of  progress  that 
the  expanding  revelation  of  science  and 
reason  is  sending  forth.  From  these  it 
would  draw  life  and  strength  for  its  great 
work  of  elevating  and  purifying  human 
character  and  conduct.  That  is  its  proper 
work  in  the  world.  It  should  return 
to  the  idea  of  '  salvation '  as  originally 
proclaimed — salvation  from  sin  in  this 
world,  and  not  from  punishment  in  an- 


292  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

other;  for  it  is  the  dictate  of  common 
sense  that,  whatever  may  be  the  truth 
about  immortality  and  a  life  to  follow 
death,  the  condition  of  the  human  soul 
hereafter  must  inevitably  depend  upon 
the  condition  it  attains  here.  If  it  can 
be  made  sound  and  healthy  for  this  life — 
'  here  on  this  bank  and  shoal  of  time,'  it 
cannot  but  be  safe  for  the  life  to  come; 
for  if  the  soul  is  released  from  corporal 
bonds  to  live  on  in  eternity,  it  can  un- 
dergo no  transformation  by  the  process, 
else  were  the  experiences  of  this  life  with- 
out purpose.  Right  conduct  and  pure 
character  must  needs  be  the  condition  of 
happiness  in  all  possible  worlds,  and 
should  therefore  be  the  sole  object  of 
religious  teaching. 

"  If  the  gospel  of  salvation  be  directed 
to  the  saving  of  the  human  race  from  vice 
and  crime,  from  wrong-doing  in  its  many 
forms,  and  from  the  miseries  of  poverty, 
ignorance,  and  misfortune  consequent 
upon  the  weakness  of  human  nature, 
through  the  application  of  that  all-em- 
bracing doctrine  of  the  sacrifice  of  self, 
and  of  doing  good  to  others, — which  is  the 


WORDS  OF  COMFORT.  293 

essence  of  that  *  love  '  perfectly  illustrated 
by  Jesus  and  eloquently  preached  by  Paul, 
— it  will  manifestly  hasten  the  coming  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  and  pro- 
mote the  safety  of  surviving  souls,  regard- 
less of  beliefs  about  the  '  undiscovered 
country.' 

"  Do  not  think,  my  dear  Thomas,  that 
I  am  disposed  to  disregard  the  spiritual 
nature  of  man  or  to  overlook  its  force 
and  importance  in  the  development  of 
human  society  ;  nor  that  I  underrate  the 
element  of  worship  in  religion  or  its  ne- 
cessity in  uplifting  men  in  their  character 
and  conduct  here.  In  all  our  talks  and 
in  this  letter,  which  I  marvel  at  myself  for 
writing  in  this  balmy  and  soothing  Medi- 
terranean air,  I  have  felt  myself  called 
upon  to  deal  only  with  what  seemed  to 
me  to  be  errors  of  opinion  and  of  belief, 
which  have  come  to  stand  in  the  way  of 
reaching  •  the  springs  of  human  action 
and  stirring  them  in  a  salutary  manner 
through  appeals  to  the  religious  na- 
ture. 

"  But,  my  dear  fellow,  keep  this  firmly 
in  mind  :  it  does  not  matter  so  tremen- 


294  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

dously  what  one  finds  himself  forced  to 
believe  in  regard  to  controverted  ques- 
tions of  doctrine.  Why  should  any  per- 
son be  worried  or  distressed  because  he 
is  compelled  to  doubt  what  he  has  been 
taught  to  regard  as  true  and  what  he  has 
devoutly  accepted  because  it  was  taught  ? 
Our  minds  ought  always  to  be  open  to 
new  light,  and  if  it  dazzles  at  first  it  is 
because  we  have  been  accustomed  to  shut 
it  out.  I  fully  appreciate  what  you  say 
about  the  part  which  sentiment  and  emo- 
tion play  in  all  matters  religious,  but  I 
am  so  constituted  that  I  cannot  under- 
stand why  sentiment  should  not  be  as 
pure  and  exalted,  and  emotion  as  fervid 
and  uplifting,  when  appealed  to  in  the 
daylight  of  the  understanding  and  the 
reason,  as  when  excited  in  the  darkness 
of  mental  obscurity  or  the  groping  of  a 
blindfold  faith.  Nothing  is  easier  than 
to  be  deceived  and  misled  in  the  dark  ; 
and  it  is  surely  safer  to  go  with  open  eyes, 
in  the  fullest  light  we  can  get.  If  the 
emotional  action  of  sentiment  becomes 
thereby  less  intense  and  nervous,  it  will 
be  more  salutary  and  more  joyous. 


WORDS  OF  COMFORT.  2$$ 

'  Let  not  thy  heart  be  troubled/  my  son, 
but  keep  thyself  from  that  pestilent  state 
that  frets  and  worries  over  doubts  that 
touch  not  the  sacred  truths  of  Ever- 
lasting Good.  Take  thy  studyings  and 
thy  thinkings  calmly,  as  behooves  a  man 
of  sense,  and  deal  honestly  with  thy 
soul.  *  *  * 

"  Gently  dost  thou  hint  at  the  *  woman 
in  the  case  ! '  Ah  !  but  can  we  not  learn — 
men  and  women — that  we  may  have  sepa- 
rate minds  and  separate  souls,  with  com- 
mon sympathies?  I  would  not  have 
thee 

'  with  shadowed  hint  confuse 
A  life  that  leads  melodious  days.' 

"  It  is  by  making  too  much  of  doubts 
and  differences,  and  too  little  of  common 
purposes  and  aims,  that  the  sons  and 
daughters  of  Adam  draw  apart.  Respect 
the  faith  of  thy  precious  wife,  and  also 
thine  own  ;  but  fear  not  the  truth,  in 
whatever  aspect  it  may  appear.  It  is 
thy  friend  and  should  be  thy  guide, 
and  it  goeth  ever  towards  the  fullest 
light. 


296  MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

11  Until  again  I  can  look  into  thine 
eyes  and  speak  to  thine  ear  direct,  I 
pray,  dear  Tom,  that  I  may  remain 
a  friend  in  whom  thy  trust  need  not 
waver. 

"  GAMALIEL  TRUMAN." 

A  week  or  two  later,  I  had  a  long  talk 
with  my  friend  Thomas,  when  we  were  by 
ourselves  in  the  inner  room  of  the  Aspho- 
del Club,  where  we  had  been  wont  to 
listen  to  the  calm  discourses  of  the  Judge. 
Tom  seemed  to  have  reached  a  stage  of 
repose,  and  his  content  was  apparently 
quite  restored. 

"  I  tell  you  what  it  is,"  he  said  to  me 
at  la£t,  "I  am  surprised  at  myself.  I 
hardly  know  where  I  have  been  these  last 
few  years,  or  what  I  have  been  thinking 
of.  In  fact,  I  don't  seem  to  have  been 
thinking.  When  I  come  to  talk  with 
people  of  my  acquaintance  upon  these 
topics  and  the  views  of  my  old  friend, 
Judge  Truman,  I  find  a  wonderful  readi- 
ness to  acquiesce  in  them,  in  most  points. 
People  who  really  give  attention  to  these 
questions  seem  to  be  coming  to  about 


WORDS  OF  COMFORT. 


297 


the  same  conclusions,  and  the  old  tradi- 
tions haven't  such  a  very  strong  hold 
after  all.  Even  clergymen — especially 
those  who  are  proving  their  '  call  to 
preach '  by  gathering  people  who  are 
*  called  to  hear' — I  have  found  to  be  quite 
familiar  with  arguments  that  were  new  to 
me,  and  quite  tolerant  of  the  conclusions 
to  which  they  lead.  I  really  believe  a 
theological  revolution  is  coming,  or  rather 
that  it  has  already  begun ;  and  I  have 
concluded  that  I  am  in  favor  of  the  revo- 
lution, under  the  guidance  of  wise  heads 
and  devout  souls." 


Parting  with  Tom  at  the  street  corner 
I  proceeded  to  my  lonely  lodgings,  mus- 
ing upon  the  Judge's  calm  confidence  in 
the  conclusions  of  his  study  and  my  more 
youthful  friend's  swift  approach  to  the 
same  broad  ground.  I  could  not  but  be 
reminded— and  finding  deep  satisfaction 
in  the  remembrance — of  the  great  poet's 
friend, 

"  Who  touch'd  a  jarring  lyre  at  first 
But  ever  strove  to  make  it  true. 


298    MIDNIGHT  TALKS  AT  THE  CLUB. 

"  He  fought  his  doubts  and  gather'd  strength, 
He  would  not  make  his  judgment  blind  ; 
He  faced  the  spectres  of  the  mind 
And  laid  them  :  thus  he  came  at  length 

"  To  find  a  stronger  faith  his  own ; 

And  Power  was  with  him  in  the  night, 
Which  makes  the  darkness  and  the  light, 
And  dwells  not  in  the  light  alone." 


THE  END. 


II 

3  < 


LU     —  J 

15 


ID 


3  2106  00000  0791 


